Drone pilot records mysterious 360-degree rainbow in San Francisco fog

While recording fog over San Francisco on May 5, 2024, Shreenivasan Manievannan captured an atmospheric optical phenomenon known as a "glory."

Formed by the sun shining through tiny water droplets present in fog and frequently documented through still photos from planes, few photographers have captured detailed videos like this one. A fogbow is also seen as a white halo, far from the glory.

A glory with airplane shadow near St. Kitts in the Caribbean in 2005 (Raligard)

Seen from a larger flying object like a plane, a miniature shadow of the object from which the photos is being taken is projected into the center of the glory.

When glories are photographed by a human, the photographer's ghostly appearance shows in the mist instead. This is called a "Brocken Spectre" and gets its name from the highest peak of Germany's Harz Mountains, where glories are frequently captured.