White sundog… At 90 or so degrees from sun?

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• • September 28, 2015 at 7:01 pm #82554
    Brian Roberts

    Participant

    My wife and I saw something odd today. We could presume it was a bright white sundog, however this was at least 90 degrees from the Sun, at 3:30 in the afternoon. Walking the dog in sunny blue skies rural lancashire with only aeroplane vapour trails in the sky.
    Any clues as to what this is?

  • September 28, 2015 at 7:19 pm #82559
    Mike Rubin

    Moderator

    Okidoki why did my reply vanish when I tried to edit it? How irritating… Let’s start again! Removing the links this time as they seem to be the culprit. Just cut and paste into a new browser tab / window. Edit: Oh they are showing as links after all. (People: Do not use the link button when posting. It appears to be broken…)

    This sounds like a 120 degree parhelion to me. Please find a description at Atmospheric Optics here:
    http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/120pars.htm

    There are also some pictures here. The lower one is mine, taken while walking the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem in March 2007 (near the Damascus Gate) as a bank of cirrostratus passed in front of the sun:
    http://www.atoptics.co.uk/fz137.htm

    More pictures of mine can be found on my website (scroll down to March):
    http://www.flybywire.org.uk/pictures/weather2007.html

    Cheers.

    -Mike

  • September 28, 2015 at 7:47 pm #82560
    Brian Roberts

    Participant

    Thanks for the update, never noticed one before so its good to know its name :-) never new they could be so blindingly bright.

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