aureoles

Aureoles (singular: aureole) are rings or halos of light that surround a luminous object, person, or feature in art, science, and culture. The term comes from Latin aureolus, meaning golden, and is related to aureola and aureus.

In religious art, aureoles are the luminous disks placed around the heads or bodies of holy figures to signify sanctity or divinity. In Western Christian iconography the halo is often a circular disk; in other traditions halos may take different shapes or positions and can appear behind the figure or as a surrounding glow.

In the visual arts more broadly, aureoles may surround mythical or legendary beings and are used as a symbol of radiance, power, or wisdom.

In science, the term describes a faint glow or ring around a bright object. In astronomy and atmospheric optics, an aureole can arise from scattering of light by dust, gas, or droplets, or from instrumental effects, producing a halo around stars, planets, the Moon, or the Sun. The solar corona is related and is sometimes referred to as an aureole in historical or descriptive texts. The characteristics of an aureole—its size, brightness, and color—can yield information about the surrounding medium or the observing system.

In figurative usage, aureoles are used to describe a radiant or elevated aura surrounding a person or phenomenon.

See also: halo, aureola, corona, nimbus.