The other day we were visiting someone’s home when we looked up in the sky and said ‘Sundog!’. There was a huge, vibrant circle around the sun, and we found ourselves rushing about admiring it from different vantages — using the peak of the roof, the leaves of a tree, or Rebecca’s head to block the sun so that we could get a full view of the phenomenon. The effect was of a clear rainbow circling the sun.
It was only later that we learned that this wasn’t a sundog at all, but rather a phenomenon called a 22 degree halo. Sundogs are bright points that form on halos. In fact, there are a whole mess of cool sun- (and sometimes moon-) associated rings, bright spots, and other visual amazements formed by ice crystals in the sky. Here is a link to some great photos at Wikipedia.
This was an excellent reminder to us that it’s always good to stop throughout the day and look around ourselves. There’s sure to be something interesting on the ground, over the horizon, or right up above us in the sky!
Posted on June 20th, 2009 by Kenton and Rebecca
Filed under: Natural Phenomena
I never realized this - can’t wait to go outside and check it out.
regards-ted
Heavenly!
Ted — We hope you see one! Apparently halos are fairly common, though the 46 degree halo is much more difficult to find.
barefootheart — Thanks! It truly was.
Pretty cool post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say
that I’ve really enjoyed browsing your posts. Any way
I’ll be subscribing to your blog and I hope you write again soon!
Thanks Maria! Great to have you on board =)