| |
Main
Date: 30 Aug 2006 16:08:32
From: kb3jqj
Subject: Sun/cloud phenomena help
|
Hi,
My wife & I were driving home & we were admiring what appeared to be
the Sun behind a cloud giving off a multi-color appearance. Then we
noticed this wasn't the Sun; the Sun was about 15 degrees further south
of this rainbowish ball in the cloud. The Sun was covered with light
cloud cover as well. It just looked freaky, like we had 2 Suns. This
occured about 7PM EST. I take it was some sort of refraction of
sunlight off a moisture laden part of the cloud that gave this
appearance but is there an official name or term for this. I usually
do night-time astronomy stuff & usually don't pay too much attention to
the Sun except for it's setting & rising times. Thanks for your time.
Ralph
|
|
| |
Date: 30 Aug 2006 23:35:47
From: Chris L Peterson
Subject: Re: Sun/cloud phenomena help
|
On 30 Aug 2006 16:08:32 -0700, "kb3jqj" <ralphmw@aol.com > wrote:
>My wife & I were driving home & we were admiring what appeared to be
>the Sun behind a cloud giving off a multi-color appearance. Then we
>noticed this wasn't the Sun; the Sun was about 15 degrees further south
>of this rainbowish ball in the cloud. The Sun was covered with light
>cloud cover as well. It just looked freaky, like we had 2 Suns. This
>occured about 7PM EST. I take it was some sort of refraction of
>sunlight off a moisture laden part of the cloud that gave this
>appearance but is there an official name or term for this. I usually
>do night-time astronomy stuff & usually don't pay too much attention to
>the Sun except for it's setting & rising times. Thanks for your time.
Sounds like a sun dog. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelion
_________________________________________________
Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com
|
| |
Date: 31 Aug 2006 15:59:09
From: kapella1@yahoo.com
Subject: Re: Sun/cloud phenomena help
|
Hi, Ralph.
I've seen many sundogs. My favorites are multiple images.
If yhou want to play "what if," go to
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/halfeat.htm
and download their software. It lets you play with angles, crystals,
orientations and more.
Kapella
|
| |
Date: 31 Aug 2006 09:42:44
From: Paul Schlyter
Subject: Re: Sun/cloud phenomena help
|
In article <1156979312.083639.271000@74g2000cwt.googlegroups.com >,
kb3jqj <ralphmw@aol.com > wrote:
> Hi,
>
> My wife & I were driving home & we were admiring what appeared to be
> the Sun behind a cloud giving off a multi-color appearance. Then we
> noticed this wasn't the Sun; the Sun was about 15 degrees further south
> of this rainbowish ball in the cloud. The Sun was covered with light
> cloud cover as well. It just looked freaky, like we had 2 Suns.
Most likely you saw a "mock sun" or parhelium. More info about these
can be found here:
http://www.sundog.clara.co.uk/halo/parhelia.htm
> This occured about 7PM EST. I take it was some sort of refraction of
> sunlight off a moisture laden part of the cloud
Actually, it's only "dry" parts of the cloud which produces mock suns
and other halo phenomena.
"Moist" clouds (i.e. clouds consisting of small drops of liquid water)
produce other optical phenomena, such as rainbows (which always appear
as parts of a circle around the point *opposite* to the Sun), haloes
(a "disk of light" around the Sun, or the Moon) and glories (a "disk
of light" around the point opposite to the Sun - the glory can only be
seen from airplanes or other elevated places such as mountaintops).
"Dry" clouds (i.e. clouds consisting of small ice crystals) can
produce many varieties of halo phenomena. A ring with a 22 degree
radius around the Sun is the most common halo phenomenon. The mock
sun (which you probably saw) and the vertical pillar are two other
common halo phenomena - these two are most common when the Sun is
fairly low in the sky. The mock sun can appear in pairs - one on each
side of the actual Sun - and then it can appear as if we had three suns!
> that gave this
> appearance but is there an official name or term for this. I usually
> do night-time astronomy stuff & usually don't pay too much attention to
> the Sun except for it's setting & rising times. Thanks for your time.
>
> Ralph
--
----------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Schlyter, Grev Turegatan 40, SE-114 38 Stockholm, SWEDEN
e-mail: pausch at stockholm dot bostream dot se
WWW: http://stjarnhimlen.se/
|
|
