Yesterday's brilliant sunshine brought a fascinating phenomenon to Norfolk skies.

North Norfolk News: The ring around the sun seen in the skies over Norfolk. It is believed to be a -22 degree halo, caused by refraction. Picture: SUPPLIED BY ANGELA COLEThe ring around the sun seen in the skies over Norfolk. It is believed to be a -22 degree halo, caused by refraction. Picture: SUPPLIED BY ANGELA COLE (Image: Archant)

Angela Cole, of Cromer, saw a strange circle around the sun around 12.15pm on Tuesday, April 16 when she was visiting her mum in Beeston Regis. Her husband, who was in nearby Sheringham, also snapped a photo of the heavenly halo.

After a spot of online research they believe they identified the outlandish aura: a -22 degree halo.

Mrs Cole said: 'Anyone who looked up at the sky would have been it.

'Rainbows come and go, but this was there for quite a while.

North Norfolk News: The ring around the sun seen in the skies over Norfolk. It is believed to be a -22 degree halo, caused by refraction. Picture: ANGELA COLEThe ring around the sun seen in the skies over Norfolk. It is believed to be a -22 degree halo, caused by refraction. Picture: ANGELA COLE (Image: Archant)

'It must have been there for half-an-hour. I've never seen anything like it before.'

Mrs Cole said she had previously seen another solar effect called a 'sun dog' when she was Theford, but the ring she saw this week was a different kettle of fish.

She said: 'The sun dog was more rectangular in shape, and more colourful.'

A 22 degree halo is a type of optical illusion that belongs to a family of ice crystal halos which form a radius of about 22 degrees around the sun or moon. Sun or moonlight is refracted in millions of hexagonal ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere.

-Did you see it as well or can you tell us more about the phenomenon? Email stuart.anderson@archant.co.uk