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   Bishop's ring  
Bishop's ring imaged by Marko Riikonen (site) at Vuontisjarvi, Finland on 1st May 1992. Image ©Marko Riikonen, shown with permission.


A large and faint bluish aureole edged by a yellow and red surrounds the sun . This is a "Bishop's ring".

This corona like effect is produced by the scattering of sunlight by ash and hydrated sulfate droplets in the stratosphere resulting from the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991. The particular features of the Bishop's ring arise from the narrow size range of the particles which are about 1µm (1/1000 mm) in diameter.

More Bishop's rings 1,2.

Sunsets and volcanic ash.