A sundog is a patch of sunlight that can be seen to either the right or left of the sun.
The National Weather Service calls them mock suns or parhelia. The sundogs are part of a family of optical illusions. Ice crystals in the atmosphere cause all of these phenomena.
Sundogs look like a pair of patches of light with subtle colors which appear at the same altitude as the sun. They can appear in a variety of forms, sometimes as colorful spots, or other times so intense and bright they look like two additional suns in the sky.
There is a weather phenomenon called red lightning.
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The origin of the dog's name isn't certain, but it is believed to be from Greek mythology. In Greek mythology, Zeus, the father of all gods and the god of the sky, walked his dogs through the sky as companions to the sun.
Sundogs are formed when light passes through hexagonal plate crystals of ice suspended in a cloud called a cirrus.
Diamonds can be found closer to the ground in extremely cold climates where the temperature drops below -22 degrees Fahrenheit.
Ice crystals have hexagonal faces that are oriented in a horizontal direction. There are rays of sunlight entering through a side edge face and then exiting through a side edge face that is 60 degrees to the first.
The sunlight can be deviated by 22 degrees depending on the angle at which it entered the ice crystal. Light rings the sun at a distance of 22 degrees. It looks like sundogs when the light is concentrated next to the sun.
Sundogs can appear with "tails" of light stretching out from them. The light reflected from the ice crystals creates the tails.
The inner edges of sundogs have a reddish hue compared to the outer edges which are blue. Sundogs are usually yellow or orange in the middle. The ordering seen in rainbows is due to the physics of light.
Light from the sun is white in color. The sun's light is split into its colors when it passes through a lens.
The degree at which light passes through a medium affects the amount of light that is reflected. The index of refraction is the variation's name.
Red light is closer to the sun than blue light due to the fact that red light is not as strong as blue light.
The effect is similar to the one that causes a rainbow to appear with a set of colors, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
If the colors in a sundog were more prominent, you would see them spreading away from the sun in this order, but in a different way than a rainbow.
Sundogs are also different in color. Depending on the size of the ice crystals, they can be in a variety of shapes and sizes.
As they descend through the atmosphere, hexagonal crystals are usually horizontal. The amount of a crystal wobbling as it descends increases with its size.
Sundogs that are taller are created by bigger crystals. They are difficult to distinguish from just fragments of a 22 degree halo around the sun.
When the sun is above the horizon, dogs can be seen around the world. Sundogs are more likely to manifest when there are conditions that increase their brightness.
The closest the sun to the horizon improves the quality of sundogs. Sundogs are more visible when the sun is close to the horizon. When the sun is high in the sky, it's difficult to see ice crystals.
When the sun is close to the horizon, the best time to see a sundog is in the morning or evening.
You are more likely to see sundogs if you go further north in the winter.
Sundog hunting can be done in the winter mornings of December in the north.
If you're looking for equipment to take the perfect sundog photograph, our guides to the best cameras for Astrophotography and best lens for Astro Photography can help.
The reason sundogs aren't related to a god taking his dogs for a walk is most likely due to the work done by IsaacNewton in the 1600s. If you want to play with prisms yourself, you can read about what inspiredNewton to experiment with light and light.
There is a new tab on the sun dog website.
Sundogs are what they are. There is a website called "Rainbows Beside the Sun!", which can be found at http://www.almanac.com.
The Sun Dog Formation is open in a new tab on the website.
What causes halos, sundogs and sun pillars?
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