Holy sun! Solar halo in Mexico causes social media frenzy (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

The ring around the sun could be seen in three Mexican cities, including the capital, Mexico City, local media reported. While the weather phenomenon is fairly common, people in the streets grabbed their cameras and smart phones to get a perfect shot of the optical illusion.
Photo of the day: a plane flies past a solar halo in Mexico
City as rainbows form around the sun (Reuters) pic.twitter.com/DfeSxbruiM
— Ella Calnan (@ellacalnan) May
22, 2015
Due to peculiar atmospheric conditions the sun over mexico is
displaying a halo usually only common in boreal regions
pic.twitter.com/BAHp1Ah5DV
— Manuel Nieves Montes (@ManuelNMontes) May
21, 2015
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Joining the Mexico City sun halo picture frenzy pic.twitter.com/YQvGVk5ngC
— Laurent Thomet (@LThometAFP) May
21, 2015
"It's very common. The thing is that people never look up," the coordinator of the National Weather Service, Juan Manuel Caballero, told AFP. He added that he had received dozens of phone calls from scared people, who thought the phenomenon was "a bad omen."
Halo seen around the Sun in Mexico City. #HaloSolarpic.twitter.com/5VKnmepE1W
— Joel Franco (@OfficialJoelF) May
21, 2015
The sun halo in Mexico right now ☀️ pic.twitter.com/y1KHV7UHYG
— Drew Van Acker Crew (@DrewVAckerCrew) May
21, 2015
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The perfect circular rainbow around the sun is actually formed by millions of tiny icy crystals in the upper atmosphere. The ice causes refraction, or the splitting of light, and the reflection of the light from the ice creates the optical illusion of the halo.
W/the Mexico sun halo in the news, Some beautiful sun halos 4
ur viewing pleasure! pic.twitter.com/c9OtvTSPNf
— Leah (@Hael381) May 22,
2015