Sun ring

While I was on recess duty this afternoon, one of the students approached me with squinted eyes. She complained that they were hurting her. After a little more discussion, she revealed that her eyes were sore from looking directly at the sun.

“Why on earth would you DO that?” I asked. “Don’t you know that staring at the sun can severely damage your vision?”

“Yes,” she replied, “but Miss! There’s a ring around the sun!” I stared at her in amused disbelief. “Just look for yourself!” she declared.

I wasn’t about to stare directly at the sun, so I let this comment pass. However, I ran into a high school science teacher after school and asked her about the sun ring. She got very excited and told me to put my hand over the sun, then look up at it. Sure enough, there was a clear rainbow colored ring. The science teacher explained that every once in a while, ice crystals form in the upper atmosphere and reflect and refract light, causing this halo-like phenomenon.

I look forward to apologizing to my student tomorrow!