Residents of Staten Island, New York witnessed a "Ring Around the Sun" also known as a "Sun Halo" in the sky Tuesday night and spread pictures and videos of the phenomenon through Twitter, according to media reports.

The pictures and video show a bright rainbow-colored halo around the bright sun against the blue sky. According to NASA, the ring is cause by ice crystals in Earth's atmosphere that can also cause rings around the Moon,

"There's a ring around the sun right now....Crazy," wrote Twitter user Meg O'Mara @Megomara Tuesday afternoon.

"Cool ring around the sun in another great NYC day!" wrote Twitter user Tom Kurke around the same time.

According to scientific research, the halo is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky. They can also form around artificial lights in very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust are floating in the nearby air.

"Displays in the daylit sky depend on the tilt of the ice crystals in the air and the altitude of the sun. They depend on whether the ice crystals are flat plates or long pencils. They depend on the crystals' size (at least 0.1 millimeter across) and optical quality. Crystals too tiny or imperfect can't act as prisms. But if the crystals are of exceptional gem-like quality, the entire dome of the daytime sky may be festooned with exotic halos, loops, arcs, and crosses--or the full parhelic circle now glowing overhead in silent glory," NASA writes.