At 10:06 AM 8/27/2000 -0600, Chris O'Neill (commenting on Acer's shots) wrote:
[snip]
>> is that really a "sundog"? what causes it? not bad flarewise considering it
>> was shot thru scratchy aircraft windows ;)
>
>Those don't look like any sundog I've ever seen (and having lived in the
>arctic for nearly a decade I've seen a few. Grin!) Not sure what they
>are, maybe just an imperfection in the aircraft window???
>
>A "sundog" looks more like a big, distinct "halo" or circular "rainbow"
>and is usually seen at a further distance (angle?) from the sun. I've even
>seen them almost 180 degrees from the sun, but usually they're at
>about 45 degrees or so.
>
>I'm no meterologist, but I'm pretty darned sure that they're caused by
>very tiny ice crystals floating in the air. They usually occur on very
>bright and *very* cold winter days. I've seen them as far north as
>Resolute (haven't been much further than that myself), and as far south
>as Calgary.
No, they aren't sundogs. Chris' description (speaking as a fellow traveller in
the Great White North [Edmonton, Alberta]) is bang-on, and they are caused by
fine ice crystals. I've seen 'em as far north as Inuvik, just south of the
Beaufort Sea. However, you can see sundogs at almost any latitude, anywhere in
the world, if the sun can be viewed through cirrus-like clouds, but the
opportunities are much better during the winter months north of (or south of)
latitude 40 or thereabouts.
I'm not sure at all what the optical phenoms Acer captured *are,* but I'm
betting Chris' guess is a good one.
Garth
"A bad day doing photography is better
than a good day doing just about
anything else."
The Unofficial Olympus Web Photo Gallery at:
http://www.taiga.ca/~gallery/, or
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