Ring rainbow

[tc1234c]

Yesterday while overflying some rain clouds at 12,500' I saw this ring shaped rainbow. Cloud top was about 9,000'. I have seen it once before while riding an airline. I did not have my camera that time thus no pictures.

[tc1234c]

Further investigation on Google search found the following link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_(optical_phenomenon)

[dlloyd3]

Watched a Youtube video last week on icing for general aviation pilots (best ever seen). They mentioned a rainbow being present only with liquid moisture, if below freezing expect icing. Watch the video, learn a lot. 54 Minutes.

[larharris2]

The 'ring rainbow' is called a Glory. Rarely visible to anyone but aviators. You will notice that there is always a shadow silhouette of your own airplane in the center of the ring. The sun is always directly behind the image and the light is bent through 180 degrees to form the image.

[Stu McCurdy]

In the Air Force we used to call that the Pilot's Halo since you are in the center of the ring rainbow. Flying my F-4, I used to frequently see that since we often flew in "moist" conditions.

[tc1234c]

This is from Wiki that is link a few posts back. "Pilot's Halo" or "Glory of the Pilot", how fitting is it to us the lucky ones who can see it .

A glory is an optical phenomenon that resembles an iconic saint's halo about the shadow of the observer's head. The effect is believed to happen due to classical wave tunneling, when light nearby the droplet tunnels through air inside the droplet and, in the case of Glory, is emitted backwards due to resonance effects.
The angular size is much smaller than a rainbow, about 5? to 20?, depending on the size of the droplets. The glory can only be seen when the observer is directly between the sun and cloud of refracting water droplets. Hence, it is commonly observed while airborne, with the glory surrounding the airplane's shadow on clouds (this is often called The Glory of the Pilot). Glories can also be seen from mountains and tall buildings, when there are clouds or fog below the level of the observer. The phenomenon is related to the optical phenomenon anthelion.

[mannanj]

The prettiest one I have ever seen was on approach to Pago Pago, American Samoa after an the Apollo 13 Recovery Mission. I was a crewmember on AF Rescue One, a C-130 aircraft with Rescue Swimmers ready to go in the water to stabilize the Spacecraft in case the Capsule missed the Recovery Ship.

[Vac]

It's your shadow right in the middle, so if you maneuver to put it on another airplane or target, you are perfectly "up sun," i.e., he can't see you. Your shadow is always present (minus the rainbow/halo feature) with the sun above 15 degrees or so, if you know what to look for. It looks like a "bright spot" that tracks steadily with your plane. You can practice picking it up by just imagining a straight line between the sun, your airplane and the ground or clouds you are flying over. After you know what to look for, you'll start to notice it much more often.

Cheers,

Vac

[Neal@F14]

I was told a long time ago, by an old pilot who's no longer with us, that whenever you see a glory while flying that it means you have a guardian angel watching over you.