A subtle rainbow glory encircles the shadow of a plane on the clouds as it descends for landing.

The optical phenomenon known as the glory, the glory of the pilot, or pilot's halo, is the name for the effect that happens when the sun is directly behind your head in the plane, with the cloud in front, and the shadow of the plane lingering on the cloud.

The rainbow encircling the shadow of the jet is the glory.

On Thursday morning when flying back from Tenerife Spain I spotted this plane glory over Irish airspace when approaching Knock airport Co. Mayo.

the beautiful optical phenomenon known as the glory – also called an anti-corona or pilot’s bow.

Glories are common. They’re seen all the time by people traveling in airplanes. You need the sun to be directly behind your head. In front, you need an ordinary cloud. As you look toward the cloud, look for the shadow of the airplane. The plane’s shadow may be surrounded by a multi-colored circle of light. That’s the glory.

The plane’s shadow doesn’t have anything to do with making the glory. The glory and the shadow just happen to be located in the same direction – opposite the sun.