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Sundogs are sun halos - there are loads of similar effects caused by the same processes, known collectively as atmospheric optics.
The sun halos you have probably seen are like huge circular rainbows around the sun, or perhaps an arc directly overhead. The former is called a 22-degrees halo, and the latter a circumzenithal arc - but there are many more halos that can form.
Check out www.atoptics.co.uk for a more comprehensive guide to these, along with great explanations and pictures from around the world.
Sundogs, also known as parhelia, are just one of these effects, caused by light passing through ice crystals in clouds (or at ground level) and being refracted to split up the colours - just like light going through a prism. The collective glints of millions of crystals bending the sunlight combine to make all these fascinating and beautiful phenomena, which can be seen from anywhere in the world at least part of the year.
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what is the key difference between a protosun and the real sun?
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Sundogs, also known as parhelia, are formed when sunlight passes through ice crystals in the air. These ice crystals can be either in cirrus clouds high up in the atmosphere, where it's really cold, or closer to ground level as diamond dust (ice crystals floating freely in the air). As the light passes through the crystals, it is refracted to split up the colours, just like light through a prism. The collective glints of millions of ice crystals combine to produce a sundog - and a whole load of other fascinating phenomena, a subject known as atmospheric optics. For more comprehensive and detailed information on sundogs and other atmospheric optics phenomena, check out this great site: www.atoptics.co.uk
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What is the difference between path of the sun in the summer and winter?
not sure
What is the difference between the path of the sun in summer and winter?
not sure
