Rare ethereal halo and light arcs captured around the sun.

Astronomer Alan Fitzsimmons captured a rare optical phenomenon of shining halos and arcs of light surrounding the sun in the sky above Belfast's Botanic Gardens on May 28. The display lasted around 30 minutes and was caused by millions of tiny, perfectly positioned ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, which often accompany thin cirrus clouds. Fitzsimmons' image includes at least three different confirmed optical phenomena: a 22-degree halo, a pair of "sundogs," and a complete parhelic circle, the line that bisects the circle, which also forms a full circle around the entire sky.