Grace saw it first, as we drove west, a bright point in the cloudy sky to the right of the Sun. She thought it a rainbow. Tony quickly glanced at it. A sun dog. "Parhelia," I said. Produced by ice crystals. I had Grace check the distance. She had never heard of the measurement trick. It was more than thumb-to-pinkie. Yep. Twenty-two degrees. Then, when northbound of the 427, petting and calming Ben, I looked over my shoulder and spotted a bright one on the left. Dual dogs. Nice.
Thanks for the lesson on sun dogs. It came in handy today when Brianna was in the car with me and we saw some more. I was able to explain them to her. It was really cool!
ReplyDeleteSee page 200 in the RASC Observer's Handbook for a sketch and more information...
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