YOUR PHOTOS: Moon halo dazzles Sunday night sky over Southwest Virginia

ROANOKE, Va. – High level cirrus clouds drifting over the area made for a beautiful sunset Sunday evening.

Once the sun set, the show continued. Several people sent us pictures of a ring around the moon.

This ring is known as a 22° lunar halo.

When the moon (or the sun during the day) is higher in the sky, its light shines through ice crystals in those cirrus clouds.

That light is then refracted or bent at a 22° angle relative to those watching from the ground.

This is the perfect recipe to get a halo or ring.

Below are several examples some of you sent in.

[KEEP THE PICS COMING by sending them through Pin It here!]