Gorgeous Sundogs over Sydney!

[mental4astro]

It sometimes pays to look up when walking down the street.

Coming back from the post office, I happened to look up and noticed something I've never seen from home here in Sydney - Sundogs! :2thumbs::cool::sunny:

Not faint either, but blazing brilliantly spectacularly bright! So brilliant that one of the Dogs looks so much like a giant magnifying glass is casting its light across the sky! So brilliant that you can trace the arc that comes up from the Dogs up over the Sun - same as the halo occasionally seen around the Moon.

Alas no circumzenithal arc. I looked, but no cigar. Just the Sundogs.

The little UFO looking artifact above the Sun is an internal reflection.

Awesome :D

Alex.

[GUS.K]

Great catch Alex.

[Saturnine]

Saw them yesterday, early afternoon, an 22 deg. partial halo and a pair of Sundogs at roughly SW & NE. Regret not grabbing the camera and getting some images of a rare event for our latitudes.

[Retrograde]

Very cool capture, Alex. I actually spotted it on Thursday too whilst out and about.

[iborg]

Very nice shot! I have never seen or heard of those before.



For the others, like me, who don't know what sun dogs are a link-


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dog


Philip

[mental4astro]

Thanks for posting the link to info on Sundogs, Philip :)

There are so many atmospheric phenomena, rainbows being the most obvious. Halos, various arcs, belt of Venus (visible twice a day everyday! And so few people are aware that it is Earth's shadow at play here too! The single largest shadow on Earth is Earth's own shadow being projected onto the atmosphere at sunrise and sunset), green flash, and many others. You will find an extensive list here:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_phenomena#A_list_of_optical _phenomena

Alex.