Sun halo over Norfolk, England
© Angela Cole
Yesterday's brilliant sunshine brought a fascinating phenomenon to Norfolk skies.

Angela Cole, of Cromer, saw a strange circle around the sun around 12.15pm on Tuesday, April 16 when she was visiting her mum in Beeston Regis. Her husband, who was in nearby Sheringham, also snapped a photo of the heavenly halo.

After a spot of online research they believe they identified the outlandish aura: a -22 degree halo.

Mrs Cole said: "Anyone who looked up at the sky would have seen it. Rainbows come and go, but this was there for quite a while. It must have been there for half-an-hour. I've never seen anything like it before."

Mrs Cole said she had previously seen another solar effect called a 'sun dog' when she was Theford, but the ring she saw this week was a different kettle of fish. She said: "The sun dog was more rectangular in shape, and more colourful."

A 22 degree halo is a type of optical illusion that belongs to a family of ice crystal halos which form a radius of about 22 degrees around the sun or moon. Sun or moonlight is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.