Stunning footage has captured the moment treated to the incredible sight of a rare ring of light surrounding the sun.

The atmospheric effect enveloped the low winter sun with a corona, known as a 22 degree halo.

They form as sunlight is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the sky.

Stunning footage has captured the moment treated to the incredible sight of a rare ring of light surrounding the sun

WHAT CREATES THE HALO EFFECT? Halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet (four miles) or more above our heads, according to EarthSky. These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals. The halos you see are caused by both refraction, or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals. Like rainbows, halos around the sun, or moon, are personal. Everyone sees their own particular halo, made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different from the ice crystals making the halo of the person standing next to you. Advertisement

The breathtaking clip was captured by a skier at the Vemdalen resort in central Sweden.

Ludvig Lundin shared the footage to Facebook, where over five million visitors to the site viewed the eye-catching distortion.

Some even compared the phenomenon to the appearance of an angel.

Among them was David D. Sterling, who said: 'That looks like an image you would imagine seeing before angels begin forming or first light up in the sky of Jordan on Christmas.'

Megan Tenaya Birchell added: 'These are the kind of things that helps you understand people believing in angels.

'What a sight, if you didn’t know anything about it, of COURSE you’d think it was beyond this world.'

Halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet (four miles) or more above our heads, according to EarthSky.

They are called 22 degree halos as this is the approximate radius of the ring, which can form around the sun or moon.

The breathtaking clip was captured by skiers at the Vemdalen resort in central Sweden. The atmospheric effect enveloped the low winter sun with a corona, known as a 22 degree halo

Halos are a sign of high thin cirrus clouds drifting 20,000 feet (four miles) or more above our heads. They form as sunlight is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the sky

These clouds contain millions of tiny ice crystals.

The halos are caused by both refraction, or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals.

The crystals have to be oriented and positioned just so with respect to your eye, in order for the halo to appear.

That’s why, like rainbows, halos around the sun, or moon, are personal.

They are called 22 degree halos as this is the approximate radius of the ring, which can form around the sun or moon

The halos are caused by both refraction, or splitting of light, and also by reflection, or glints of light from these ice crystals

The crystals have to be oriented and positioned just so with respect to your eye, in order for the halo to appear. That’s why, like rainbows, halos around the sun, or moon, are personal

Everyone sees their own particular halo, made by their own particular ice crystals, which are different from the ice crystals making the halo of the person standing next to you.

Halos can also form around the moon but, because moonlight isn’t very bright, lunar halos are mostly colourless.

If you do see a halo around the moon or sun, you may notice that the inner edge is sharp, while the outer edge is more diffuse.