In recent days, the halo has been observed in many cities of Russia, including St. Petersburg, Moscow and Rostov-on-Don. The appearance of a halo in May is quite an unusual phenomenon, because a couple of years ago it was called “rare”. And on May 18, a halo shone over the Yucatan Peninsula.
The inhabitants of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, located in the northeast of the Yucatan Peninsula, were shocked by its strength and beauty.
Halos have been observed in the cities of Cancun, Playa del Carmen and Puerto Morelos.
There are many types of halos and they are mainly caused by ice crystals in cirrus clouds in the upper troposphere at an altitude of 5-10 km.
In the old days, various halos, like other celestial phenomena, were attributed to the mystical meaning of omens (usually bad, especially if the halo took a cruciform shape, which was interpreted as a cross or a sword, or twins of the luminary appeared), to which there are many chronicles evidence.
So, in "The Lay of Igor's Campaign" it is said that before the Polovtsian offensive and Igor's capture "four suns shone over the Russian land", which was perceived as a sign of impending great disaster.
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And in 1551, after a long siege by the troops of Emperor Charles V of the German city of Magdeburg, a halo with false suns appeared in the sky above the city. This caused a commotion among the besiegers. Since the halo was perceived as a heavenly sign in defense of the besieged, Charles V ordered to lift the siege of the city [5].
In the days when meteorology did not exist, halos and similar optical phenomena were used to predict the weather. For example, Russian folk omens say that the appearance around the moon of similar light rings, arcs, spots, pillars - to rain, and Chuvash - to a cold snap (usually in winter).