Spectacular Rainbow Halo Around Sun Yesterday Captured by New York Residents (Video)

If you were glued to your computer screen yesterday, you probably didn't see the spectacular phenomenon that circled our sun on Tuesday. A massive, rainbow-colored halo encircled the closest star to Earth, causing residents in New Jersey and New York to look up and take notice as they speculated about the possibility of aliens and discussed weird weather.

The phenomenon itself, while dramatic, wasn't anything to cause alarm. Halos like the one seen yesterday are actually a fairly common occurrence, though this particular one was especially pronounced.

"It's not that uncommon, but it's not something you see every day," said Patrick O'Hara of the National Weather Service in an interview with USA Today.

The phenomenon occurs when you get just the right concentration of ice crystals in the atmosphere to refract light from the sun, which creates the rainbow halo.

"It's dramatic," said Michael Kalb, FDU physics lecturer, in an interview with Patch.com. "It catches people's imaginations.

Usually, these halos are associated with thin, high cloud levels, such as cirrostratus cloud formations, according to I Love Science. The circular formation is actually most prevalent in its 22 degree form, which is a ring of light 22 degrees from either the sun or the moon. It's formed by hexagonal ice crystals. As light passes through the crystal, it is refracted twice-once when it enters the crystal and once again when it leaves. These two refractions bend the light by 22 degrees from its original direction, which produces the ring of light observed around the celestial bodies.

Of course, you may have missed this spectacular occurrence if you weren't outside yesterday. Never fear, though, there are countless of social media sites that are now displaying photos from the event. You can even check it out on the video below, courtesy of YouTube.