Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
Have you ever been in an airplane, looking out the window, and noticed a bright colorful ring in the clouds, moving with the airplane? If you have, then you’ve seen the Glory! Glory is the name given to concentric circles of color centered on the shadow of an airplane on clouds that are made of water droplets. Similar but not identical to a rainbow, the Glory is an optical phenomenon showing the full spectrum. It is also known as a Pilot's Glory, or an Anticorona since it happens in the opposite direction of the Corona (seen around the Sun or Moon). A Glory is very common and not hard to spot if you just find the shadow of the plane you are in, on lower clouds.
Meteorologist Alan Sealls, AMS Fellow
Facebook: AlanSeallsWeather
X: @AlanSealls
Instagram: @AlanSealls
Web: alanseallsauthor.com
Educational weather videos for k-12 and even for college level by subscription here weatherthings.com/TeacherVideos
Have you ever been in an airplane, looking out the window, and noticed a bright colorful ring in the clouds, moving with the airplane? If you have, then you’ve seen the Glory! Glory is the name given to concentric circles of color centered on the shadow of an airplane on clouds that are made of water droplets. Similar but not identical to a rainbow, the Glory is an optical phenomenon showing the full spectrum. It is also known as a Pilot's Glory, or an Anticorona since it happens in the opposite direction of the Corona (seen around the Sun or Moon). A Glory is very common and not hard to spot if you just find the shadow of the plane you are in, on lower clouds.
Meteorologist Alan Sealls, AMS Fellow
Facebook: AlanSeallsWeather
X: @AlanSealls
Instagram: @AlanSealls
Web: alanseallsauthor.com
Educational weather videos for k-12 and even for college level by subscription here weatherthings.com/TeacherVideos
