February 15, 2007

I saw one of these today.........


.....on my way home from work!! What a beautiful sight it was.....and as I am staring at it, doing a double take, thinking that I am seeing strange things, trying to figure out what it was AND still trying to keep my eye on the road so I can accomplish my goal of arriving home in one piece.....I am wondering what it is and for lack of anything better.....I thought....hhhmmmmm it looks like, so maybe it's called a rainbow cloud.

Once home I was describing it online to my sister who right away asked if it was a sun dog?? How can it be that I love all things sun, moon and stars related and have never heard of a sun dog??



So, being the good lil googling geek that I am.....I set about finding out about this celestial phenomenon and here is what I found........courtesy of this webpage .......

Q: What is a sun dog and what makes it happen?

A: A sun dog is a rainbow-like spot in a cirrus cloud. Light shining through ice crystals in the cloud makes a sun dog, much like light shining through raindrops makes a rainbow. They are reddish on the side facing the sun and often have
bluish-white tails stretching horizontally away from them.

Cirrus clouds — these high fleecy white bands or patches in the sky are mostly tiny
particles of ice. Ice can take on many forms and shapes. The cloud ice, however,
is shaped like hex bathroom tiles or stubby pencils each no bigger than the
tiniest grains of sand. These ice crystals bend light like a prism, disperse its
colours, and cause sun dogs.

When the crystals line up, the light shining through makes sun dogs. The horizontal crystals bend the light 22 degrees as the light enters and exits the crystal. Light colours fan out from the bending and display as a sun dog.

Sun dogs are among the most commonly seen sky phenomena, appearing most prominently when the sun is low. They usually appear in pairs two handbreadths on either side of the sun when it rises or sets behind a very thin veil of high cirrus clouds.

Now these pictures, although beautiful, can't even hold a candle to the one I saw today in terms of intensity.....it was quite large and long......stretching up and down in the sky..... and the colours were sooooo vibrant and brilliant....it really took my breath away....you could clearly see every single colour of the rainbow.......AMAZING!!!

And while I was surfing.....I came across this picture again......it's taken somewhere in Alaska....double rainbow.....brilliant!!!


Points to Ponder....

The soul would have no rainbow had the eyes no tears.

Rainbows apologize for angry skies.

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.

11 peeps just sayin':

Unknown said...

I'd give anything to see some color right now ... all we see here is white ... white snow, white streets (from salt) and dull, gray clouds. Ugh.

Attila the Mom said...

I've never even heard of a sun dog! How beautiful!

Anonymous said...

these are common especially when it is cold. so i hear. i never tire of seeing them. rainbows are awesome too. i am a big fan of clouds, sunrises and sunsets. never get my fill. enjoy your friday. poet.

Trop said...

I learned something new. Nice pictures and great food for thought.

Middle Girl said...

Lovely pics and thought provoking information. Thanks.

nina michelle said...

soooo beautiful! I have never seen a sun dog...nor the northern lights...

chapin said...

One of my kids asked me about Sun Dogs just this week. She said she saw a rainbow near the sun on the way to school. I wish I had this information when I tried to explain it to her. Very cool pics

Me. Here. Right now. said...

The coolest rainbow I ever saw was this one...but, really, aren't they all just fabulous?

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/06/060619-rainbow-fire.html

het (aka quickfit) said...

wow that rainbow was amazing....and sun dogs, maybe one day the chance will come for me to see one.... cool pictures
ciao4now

SassyFemme said...

Great picture!

Unknown said...

Wonderful points to ponder. And what an amazing photo from Alaska, huh? I would probably faint if I'd ever seen anything that beautiful LOL. I think it would completely knock me off my feet.