This photo reveals a solar or sun halo, a quite rare occurrence. In a typical year there may be only a few such sightings. The rainbows are caused by light passing through ice crystals in cirrus clouds, which act as a prism that refracts the light into its spectral colors. We were lucky to catch the halo framing a beautiful Ponderosa Pine on the north side of Mirror Lake, Yosemite National Park.
tagged: sun halo rainbow atmospheric anomaly looking up from below ponderosa pine tree mirror lake yosemite national park california
