Woman snaps extremely rare photo of plane in phenomenon known as ‘pilot’s glory’
- This photo captured an extremely rare phenomenon from a plane window
- It’s known as ‘pilot’s glory’
- The photo makes the plane appear like it’s surrounded by a rainbow – but there is a scientific explanation
Published on Mar 21, 2024 at 3:21 PM (UTC+4)
by Amelia Jean Hershman-Jones
Last updated on Mar 21, 2024 at 8:12 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Tom Wood
This photo taken by a plane passenger captured an extremely rare phenomenon known as ‘pilot’s glory’ and it’s unlike anything most of us have seen before.
The photo makes the plane appear like it’s surrounded by a rainbow or as if a halo is encircling an airplane’s shadow against clouds.
But, as magical as it might appear, there is a scientific explanation.

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The Reddit post, from anglovesart, had the title: “Crazy photo outside airplane today”.
The poster explained alongside the photo: “I took this first photo from the plane today, posted it to IG and a friend sent me a message that her boyfriend took the same exact photo today from a different flight.
“It is the shadow of the plane I was in surrounded by a prism, crazy!’ she captioned. It shows a photo of a plane’s shadow engulfed in a rainbow.”
And, after it was posted earlier this week, it amassed 2.1k upvotes.

It’s not the first time something fascinating has been seen from a plane window – like the flight crew member who accidentally caught a ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ Falcon 9 liftoff from their seat.
Or these cockpit POVs revealing both how close planes fly and how fast they actually fly.
Commenters flocked to try and explain the science behind it.
One said: “It’s a glory.
“Something to do with high altitude and being backlit.
“Mountain peaks get them as well.”
Others expressed what a rare POV this is.


“It is a full rainbow. You never get that angle on the ground, so you only see the bow there,” said another.
It was ‘first observed by mountain climbers in the days before air travel became common’, per HowStuffWorks.
So what causes it?
In the same way we see a rainbow on the ground, it’s ’caused by the backscattering of sunlight by tiny water droplets in the atmosphere’.
“The phenomenon requires the viewer to be directly between the source of light and the water droplets, with the size and distribution of the droplets affecting the appearance of the glory,” the science site said.
“The main cause of a glory is a process called wave tunneling, where sunlight creates electromagnetic waves within a droplet, which then bounce around inside and eventually exit, forming the visible halo.”
So, now you know.
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All Supercar Blondie contributors undergo editorial review and fact-checking to ensure accuracy and authority in automotive journalism. After gaining her BA Hons in French and English at the University of Nottingham, Amelia embarked on a vocational diploma from the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ). This led to numerous opportunities, from interning at Vogue to being on the small team that launched Women’s Health magazine in the UK, which was named the PPA Consumer magazine of the year for three years running. As Health, Beauty and Fitness editor, Amelia personally received a Johnson & Johnson Award and was shortlisted for both PPA and BSME titles. Since then, Amelia has created content for numerous titles and brands, including the Telegraph, 111 Skin, Waitrose, Red magazine, Stylist, and Elle, as well as being Head of Content at Vitality and Editor in Chief at INLondon magazine. “My superpower is translating technical jargon about the mechanical workings of a supercar into a relatable story you’ll want to share with your friends after you’ve read it.” After joining the SB Media family as a senior journalist in September of 2023, Amelia’s role has evolved to see her heading up the SEO output of the editorial team. From researching the most ‘Google-able’ key terms to producing evergreen content - it’s been a time of hard work, growth, and success for the editorial team and the Supercar Blondie website. “I like to think of myself as a ‘method journalist’. In other words: I live and breathe whatever I am writing about. When writing about fitness, I trained as a personal trainer, and as a beauty editor, I completed an ‘expert’ in scent diploma with the Fragrance Foundation. “During my tenure at Supercar Blondie, however, I did something I never thought possible: I passed my driving test at the age of 36. One day I’d love to train as a mechanic to better understand what happens under the hood, too. “My sweet spot is providing readers with a ‘takeaway’ (read: something new they didn’t know before) after reading every one of my stories. While I don’t claim to be an expert in the automotive world, I know the experts and bodies in the field to rely on to provide our readers with an informative and thought-provoking story every time they visit the site.”