The Sun, the solar system’s giant star, bathes Earth in glowing light. This light interacts with the atmosphere to illuminate the world, but also sometimes creates illusions. When sunlight hits elements like raindrops or misty clouds, it can make us see things that aren’t there or appear distorted. In mid-2023, Argentine photographer Gaby Chavez (@gabychavez86) captured one such illusion, describing it on Instagram as “a portal to another dimension.”
The video shows an oval halo floating above a snowy slope. It has a purplish grey center with a white ring of light and an amber-orange edge. Snowflakes falling in the background make the strange circle seem even more otherworldly. According to Newsweek, Gaby captured the bizarre footage at Cerro Catedral, a ski resort in Patagonia, southern Argentina. “A portal to another dimension?” she asked her followers in the caption, adding, according to Newsweek, “Nature is always full of surprises. Snowflakes falling and sunlight filtering through clouds.”
More than 239,000 people watched and liked the video, as can be seen in the comments section: “If I was there I would jump in to try my luck instead of taking photos,” commented @aleksandar125. @edoardo_segato_figueroa said the glowing rings of light were “transurfing fairies.”
Gaby also added the hashtag “#subsun” to the caption of her Instagram post. As it turns out, this unusual ring of light wasn’t a portal to another world, but a scientific phenomenon called a “subsun.” According to the World Meteorological Organization’s International Cloud Atlas, a “subsun,” also known as an “undersun,” is an optical phenomenon that occurs when sunlight reflects off plate-like ice crystals in the clouds. It appears as a glowing white dot directly below the sun, similar to the sun’s reflection on still water.
Ice crystals act like mirrors for sunlight, Gaby explained in an Instagram post. The ice crystals that create this phenomenon are in the shape of hexagonal plates. The orientation of the ice crystals in the atmosphere usually determines what optical phenomenon is created. These optical phenomena usually occur in very sunny and cold places. In these conditions, ice crystals allow sunlight to pass through, Gaby said. “In this case, you will see a number of bright dots surrounding a ball of light. They correspond to crystals moving through the air, shining stealthily like a mirror, and their density decreases rapidly as you move away from the center of the phenomenon,” Gaby told Newsweek.
Gabby’s footage also became a hot topic on X. In November 2023, a woman named Carol Vorderman reposted Gabby’s footage with the caption “This is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen… a ‘subsun'”. @harrypremier201 said, “A time portal!” Several people likened the phenomenon to a “Brocken spectre”. According to the UK Met Office, a Brocken spectre is a large shadow of an observer cast by clouds or fog.
Wow! It’s like a portal to another world 👏
— Farooq (@implausibleblog) November 21, 2023
The sun shining from behind the observer casts a shadow through mist on a hilltop, while shadow magnification is an optical illusion that makes the shadow of a nearby cloud appear to be at the same distance as a distant landmark seen through the clouds. Shadows can also pass through water droplets, making them appear to move. This can create a disorienting effect or the appearance of a giant looming shadow beneath the sun.
Check out Gabby’s amazing footage below:
