A
sun dog or
sundog (scientific name
parhelion, plural
parhelia, from "beside the sun"; also called a
mock sun) is an atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or
haloA halo is an optical phenomenon produced by ice crystals creating colored or white arcs and spots in the sky. Many are near the sun or moon but others are elsewhere and even in the opposite part of the sky...
on either side of the
sunThe Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. The Earth and other matter orbit the Sun, which by itself accounts for about 99.86% of the Solar System's mass....
.
Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of light to the left or right of the sun, 22° (or more) distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season. In Europe and North America, they might be seen as often as twice a week but they are not always obvious or bright. They are best seen and at their most conspicuous when the sun is low.
Formation and characteristics
Sundogs are formed by plate shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold
cirrus cloudCirrus clouds generally refer to atmospheric clouds that are characterized by thin, wisplike strands, often accompanied by tufts, leading to their common name of mare's tail. Sometimes these clouds are so extensive that they are virtually indistinguishable from one another, forming a sheet of...
s or - during very cold weather - by ice crystals called
diamond dustDiamond dust is a ground-level cloud composed of tiny ice crystals. This meteorological phenomenon is also referred to simply as ice crystals and is reported in the METAR code as IC. Diamond dust generally forms under otherwise clear or nearly clear skies, so it is sometimes referred to as...
drifting in the air at low level.
Sundog forming rays enter a near vertical
prism-Science and mathematics:* Prism , a transparent object which refracts light** Dispersive prism, the most familiar type of optical prism* Prism , a kind of polyhedron* Prism , a type of sedimentary deposit-Books, comics and magazines:...
side face of a crystal and exit through a second side face inclined 60° to the first. There is net
refractionRefraction is the change in direction of a wave due to a change in its velocity. This is most commonly observed when a wave passes from one medium to another...
at each face and the light is dispersed into colors. There is no single angle of deviation through the crystal, which effectively acts as a 60 degree prism, but the minimum angle of deviation is ~22°. This corresponds to the distance of the inner edge of the sundog from the sun when the sun is low.
As the sun rises higher the rays passing through the crystals are increasingly skewed from the horizontal plane. Their angle of deviation increases and the sundogs move further from the sun. However, they always stay at the same altitude as the sun.
Sundogs are red colored at the side nearest the sun. Farther out the colors grade through oranges to blue. However, the colors overlap considerably and so are muted, never pure or saturated. The colors of the sundog finally merge into the white of the
parhelic circleA parhelic circle is a halo, an optical phenomenon appearing as a horizontal white line on the same altitude as the sun, or occasionally the Moon. If complete, it stretches all around the sky, but more commonly it only appears in sections....
(if the latter is visible).
It is possible to theoretically predict the forms of sundogs as would be seen on other planets and moons.
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
might have sundogs formed by both water-ice and CO
2-ice. On the giant gas planets—
JupiterJupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass slightly less than one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all of the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas...
,
SaturnSaturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second largest planet in the Solar System, after Jupiter. Saturn, along with Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune, is classified as a gas giant...
,
UranusUranus is the seventh planet from the Sun, and the third-largest and fourth most massive planet in the Solar System. It is named after the ancient Greek deity of the sky Uranus the father of Kronos and grandfather of Zeus...
and
NeptuneNeptune is the eighth planet from the Sun in our Solar System. Named for the Roman god of the sea, it is the fourth-largest planet by diameter and the third-largest by mass. Neptune is 17 times the mass of Earth and is slightly more massive than its near-twin Uranus, which is 15 Earth masses and...
—other crystals form the clouds of
ammoniaAmmonia is a compound of nitrogen and hydrogen with the formula NH
3. It is normally encountered as a gas with a characteristic pungent odor. Ammonia contributes significantly to the nutritional needs of terrestrial organisms by serving as a precursor to foodstuffs and fertilizers...
,
methaneMethane is a chemical compound with the chemical formula . It is the simplest alkane, and the principal component of natural gas. Methane's bond angles are 109.5 degrees. Burning methane in the presence of oxygen produces carbon dioxide and water. The relative abundance of methane and its clean...
, and other substances that can produce halos with four or more sundogs.
Greece
AristotleAristotle was a Greek philosopher, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology.Together with Plato and Socrates , Aristotle is one of...
(Meteorology III.2, 372a14) notes that "two mock suns rose with the sun and followed it all through the day until sunset." He says that "mock suns" are always to the side, never above or below, most commonly at sunrise or sunset, more rarely in the middle of the day.
Rome
A passage in
CiceroMarcus Tullius Cicero was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. Cicero is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.Cicero is generally perceived to be one of the most versatile minds of ancient Rome...
's
On the RepublicDe re publica is a dialogue on Roman politics by Cicero, written in six books between 54 and 51 BC. It is written in the format of a Socratic dialogue in which Scipio Africanus Minor takes the role of a wise old man — an obligatory part for the genre...
(54-51 BC) is one of many by Greek and Roman authors who refer to sun dogs and similar phenomena:
Be it so, said TuberoQuintus Aelius Tubero was a Roman consul in 11 BC. He was most likely the father of Sextus Aelius Catus, who was himself consul in 4 AD. His granddaughter was Aelia Paetina, who married future Emperor Claudius in 28. Her adopted brother was Lucius Aelius Sejanus, the Praetorian Prefect who was...
; and since you invite me to discussion, and present the opportunity, let us first examine, before any one else arrives, what can be the nature of the parhelion, or double sun, which was mentioned in the senate. Those that affirm they witnessed this prodigy are neither few nor unworthy of credit, so that there is more reason for investigation than incredulity.
Wars of the Roses
The prelude to the
Battle of Mortimer's CrossThe Battle of Mortimer's Cross was fought on February 2, 1461 near Wigmore, Herefordshire . It was part of the Wars of the Roses....
in
HerefordshireHerefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. It also forms a unitary district known as the County of Herefordshire. It borders the English ceremonial counties of Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the southeast, and...
, England in 1461 is supposed to have involved the appearance of a complete parhelion with three "suns". The Yorkist commander, later Edward IV, convinced his initially frightened troops that it represented the Holy Trinity and Edward's troops won a decisive victory.
Jakob Hutter
Possibly the earliest clear description of a sundog is by
Jacob HutterJacob Hutter , was a Tyrolean Anabaptist leader and founder of the "Hutterites"....
, who wrote in his
Brotherly Faithfulness: Epistles from a Time of Persecution:
My beloved children, I want to tell you that on the day after the departure of our brothers Kuntz and Michel, on a Friday, we saw three suns in the sky for a good long time, about an hour, as well as two rainbows. These had their backs turned toward each other, almost touching in the middle, and their ends pointed away from each other. And this I, Jakob, saw with my own eyes, and many brothers and sisters saw it with me. After a while the two suns and rainbows disappeared, and only the one sun remained. Even though the other two suns were not as bright as the one, they were clearly visible. I feel this was no small miracle …
The observation most likely occurred in
Auspitz (Hustopeče)Hustopeče is a town in southern Moravia of the Czech Republic with 5,956 inhabitants. Hustopeče lies in the Břeclav District and is 25 km northwest of Břeclav.-History:...
,
MoraviaMoravia is a historical region in central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, one of the former Czech lands. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region.-Geography:...
in very late October or very early November of 1533. The original was written in German and is from a letter originally sent in November 1533 from Auspitz in Moravia to the Adige Valley in
TyrolTyrol is a state or Bundesland, located in the west of Austria. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical region of Tyrol.The state is split into two parts – called North Tyrol and East Tyrol – by a 20 km-wide strip of land where the state of Salzburg borders directly on the Italian...
. The Kuntz Maurer and Michel Schuster mentioned in the letter left Hutter on the Thursday after the feast day of
SimonThe apostle called Simon Zelotes, Simon the Zealot, in Luke 6:15 and Acts 1:13; and Simon Kananaios or Simon Cananeus , was one of the most obscure among the apostles of Jesus...
and Jude, which is October 28. (This quote is also referenced by Fred Schaaf on page 94 of the November 1997 and December 1997 issues of
Sky & TelescopeSky & Telescope is an American monthly magazine covering all aspects of amateur astronomy, including:*current events in astronomy and space exploration*events in the amateur astronomy community...
.)
Vädersolstavlan
While mostly known and often quoted for being the oldest colour depiction of the city of
Stockholm' is the capital and largest city of Sweden. It is the site of the national Swedish government, the Riksdag , and the official residence of the Swedish Monarch as well as the prime minister. The Monarch resides at Drottningholm Palace outside of Stockholm since 1980 and uses the Royal Palace of...
,
Vädersolstavlan is an oil-on-panel painting depicting a halo display, an atmospheric optical phenomenon, observed over Stockholm on April 20, 1535. It is named after the sun dogs appearing on the upper right part of the painting...
(
SwedishSwedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along the coast and on the Åland islands. It is to a considerable extent mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with Danish...
; "The Sundog Painting", literally "The Weather Sun Painting") is arguably also one of the oldest known depictions of a sun dog. For two hours in the morning of April 20, 1535, the skies over the city were filled with white circles and arcs crossing the sky, while additional suns appeared around the sun. The phenomenon quickly resulted in rumours of an
omenAn omen is a phenomenon that is believed to foretell the future, often signifying the advent of change. Omens may be considered "good" or "bad", but the term is more often used in a foreboding sense, as with the word "ominous".-In ancient Rome:Ancient Roman religion employed two distinct types of...
of God's forthcoming revenge on King
Gustav VasaGustav I, born Gustav Eriksson and later known as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death. He was the first monarch of the House of Vasa, an influential noble family which came to be the royal house of Sweden for much of the 16th and 17th centuries...
(1496-1560) for having introduced
ProtestantismProtestantism is a branch within Christianity, containing many denominations with some differing practices and doctrines, that principally originated in the sixteenth-century Protestant Reformation. It is considered to be one of the major divisions within Christianity, together with the Roman...
during the 1520s and for being heavy-handed with his enemies allied with the Danish king.
Hoping to end speculations, the Chancellor and
LutheranLutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the teachings of the 16th century German reformer Martin Luther. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...
scholar
Olaus PetriOlof Persson , better known under the Latin form of his name, Olaus Petri , was a clergyman, writer, and a major contibutor to the Protestant Reformation in Sweden. His brother, Laurentius Petri, became the first Evangelical Lutheran Archbishop of Sweden...
(1493-1552) ordered a painting to be produced documenting the event. When confronted with the painting, the king, however, interpreted it as a conspiracy - the real sun of course being himself threatened by competing fake suns, one being Olaus Petri and the other the clergyman and scholar
Laurentius AndreaeLaurentius Andreae was a Swedish clergyman and scholar who is acknowledged as one of his country's preeminent intellectual figures during the first half of the 16th century...
(1470-1552), both thus accused of treachery, but eventually escaping capital punishment. The original painting is lost, but a copy from the 1630s survives and still can be seen in the church
StorkyrkanSankt Nikolai kyrka , most commonly known as Storkyrkan is the oldest church in Gamla Stan, the old town in central Stockholm, Sweden. It is an important example of Swedish Brick Gothic...
in central Stockholm.
Nuremberg, Germany in 1561
On April 14 1561, the skies over
NurembergNuremberg is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. It is situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal and is Franconia's largest city. It is located about 170 kilometres north of Munich, at 49.27° N 11.5° E. The population is...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
were filled with a multitude of celestial objects that were observed by many people in the city. The objects were depicted five years later in the 1566 woodcut by Hans Glaser of the "1561 Nuremberg event", that is displayed to the left. Several of the images resemble the types of phenomenon that occur as parhelia or halos.
Shackleton
In her history
Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World: The Extraordinary True Story of ShackletonSir Ernest Henry Shackleton CVO OBE, was an Anglo-Irish explorer who was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. His first experience of the polar regions was as third officer on Captain Scott’s Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, from which...
and the Endurance, telling the story of
EnduranceThe Endurance was the three-masted barquentine in which Sir Ernest Shackleton sailed for the Antarctic on the 1914 Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition...
s ill-fated polar expedition in 1912,
Jennifer ArmstrongJennifer Armstrong, daughter of the late George and Gerry Armstrong, folk musicians, is a folk instrument player / singer / story teller who was formerly married to Fred Park...
writes:
… All around them, too, were signs that the Antarctic winter was fast approaching: there were now twelve hours of darkness, and during the daylight hours petrels and terns fled toward the north. Skuas kept up a screeching clamor, and penguins on the move honked and brayed from the ice for miles around. Killer whales cruised the open leads, blowing spouts of icy spray. The tricks of the Antarctic atmosphere brought mock suns and green sunsets, and showers of jewel-coloured ice crystals.
Fiction
- Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
appears to mention the phenomenon in his Henry VI, Part 3Henry the Sixth, Part 3, is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed written in approximately 1590, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. It prepares the ground for one of his best-known and most controversial plays: the history of Richard III...
, written in about 1590, when he has Edward say, "Dazzle mine eyes, or do I see three suns?"
- The poem Die Nebensonnen ("The Parhelia"), by Wilhelm Müller
Wilhelm Müller was a German lyric poet.-Life:Müller was born at Dessau, the son of a shoemaker.He was educated at the gymnasium of his native town and at the university of Berlin, where he devoted himself to philological and historical studies. In 1813-1814 he took part, as a volunteer, in the...
from his 1823-24 cycle WinterreiseWinterreise is a cycle of 24 poems by Wilhelm Müller, best known as the song cycle set for male voice and piano by Franz Schubert . It is the second of Schubert's two great song cycles on Müller's poems, the earlier being Die schöne Müllerin...
, was set to music by Franz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
. It begins: "Drei Sonnen sah ich am Himmel stehn..." ("Three Suns I saw in the sky").
- Jack London
Jack London was an American author who wrote The Call of the Wild, White Fang, and The Sea Wolf along with many other popular books...
wrote a short story in 1905 called The Sun-Dog Trail.
- In the 1949 novel Mrs. Mike
Mrs. Mike, the Story of Katherine Mary Flannigan is a novel by Benedict and Nancy Mars Freedman set in the Canadian wilderness in the early 1900s. Considered by some a young adult classic, Mrs. Mike has been published in several editions and is read worldwide...
by Benedict and Nancy Mars Freedman, Sgt. Mike Flannigan, a Canadian Mountie, explains sun dogs when they are seen by his young Bostonian wife for the first time. Claiming to have observed as many as sixteen of them together in the sky at a single time, he says the Indians believe they are "evil stars trying to kill the sun," but that they are actually caused by atmospheric conditions, and that when they appear "ten to one there's a blizzard by the morning."
- A reference to 'parhelia' occurs in the Introduction to Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer....
's 1962 novel Pale FirePale Fire is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a poem titled "Pale Fire" with commentary by a friend of the poet's. Together these elements form a narrative in which both authors are central characters. Pale Fire has spawned a wide variety of interpretations and a large body...
:
The short (166) Canto One, with all those amusing birds and parhelia, occupies thirteen cards.
...and that rare phenomenon
The iridule--when beautiful and strange,
In a bright sky above a mountain range
One opal cloudlet in an oval form
Reflects the rainbow of a thunderstorm...
- In the fifth novel of the Aubrey–Maturin series
The Aubrey–Maturin series is a sequence of historical novels — 20 completed and one unfinished — by Patrick O'Brian, set during the Napoleonic Wars and centering on the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey of the Royal Navy and his ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, who is also a physician, natural...
, Desolation IslandDesolation Island, is the fifth historical novel by Patrick O'Brian set prior to the War of 1812.-Plot summary:Jack Aubrey has been ashore for a while and is getting into difficulties due to his belief in the honesty of others in business and cards. Stephen Maturin is also in personal trouble over...
, 1978, Patrick O'BrianPatrick O'Brian, CBE , born Richard Patrick Russ, was an English novelist and translator, best known for his Aubrey–Maturin series of novels set in the Royal Navy during the Napoleonic Wars and centered on the friendship of English Naval Captain Jack Aubrey and the Irish–Catalan physician...
writes:"A visit to the cabin showed him the glass lower still: sickeningly low. And back on the poop he saw that he was by no means the only one to have noticed the mounting sea – an oddly disturbed sea, as if moved by some not very distant force; white water too, and a strange green colour in the curl of the waves and in the water slipping by. He glanced north-west, and there the sun, though shining still, had a halo, with sun-dogs on either side. Ahead, the aurora had gained in strength: streamers of an unearthly splendour."
- In her popular historical novel The Sunne in Splendour, 1982, about Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England from 1483 until his death. He was the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat at the Battle of Bosworth Field was the decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, and is sometimes regarded as the end of the Middle Ages in England...
, Sharon Kay PenmanSharon Kay Penman is an American historical novelist. Penman has written two trilogies, the Welsh Prince Trilogy and the Plantagnet Trilogy. In addition, Penman is the author of six medieval mysteries, the first of which, The Queen's Man, was a finalist for the Best First Mystery Edgar Award in 1996...
writes:"Hastings laughed, too, and shook his head. 'Men do make their luck, Lady Margaret, and never have I seen that better proven than at Mortimer's Cross. For ere the battle, there appeared a most fearsome and strange sight in the sky.' He paused. 'Three suns did we see over us, shining full clear.'"
In a footnote it is clarified: "Phenomenon known as a parhelion, generally caused by the formation of ice crystals in the upper air." Two pages later, again mentioning the English king Edward IVEdward IV was King of England from 4 March 1461 until 2 October 1470, and again from 11 April 1471 until his death. He was the first Yorkist King of England...
, she adds: "Many, she saw, flaunted streaming sun emblems to denote her son's triumph under the triple suns at Mortimer's Cross."
- Sundog is the title of a 1984 novel by Jim Harrison
James "Jim" Harrison is an American author known for his poetry, fiction, essays, reviews, and writings about food. He has been called "a force of nature," and his work has been compared to that of Faulkner and Hemingway...
.
- The horror fiction
Horror fiction is a genre of fiction in any medium intended to scare, unsettle and horrify the audience. Historically, the cause of the "horror" experience has often been the intrusion of a disturbing supernatural element into everyday human experience...
writer Stephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American writer of contemporary horror fiction, science fiction, fantasy literature, and screenplays. An estimated 300–350 million copies of King's novels and short story collections have been sold, and many of his stories have been adapted for film, television, and...
has a novella called The Sun Dog in his 1990 collection Four Past MidnightFour Past Midnight is a collection of four novellas by Stephen King, published in 1990. The four stories are "The Langoliers"; "Secret Window, Secret Garden"; "The Library Policeman"; and "The Sun Dog".- The Langoliers :...
.
- Jane Gardam
Jane Mary Gardam OBE is a British author of children's and adult fiction. She also reviews for the Spectator and the Telegraph, and writes for BBC radio, where her current project is 6 programmes on the suburbs. She lives in Kent, Wimbledon and Yorkshire. She has won numerous literary awards...
at the end of her 2006 novel Old Filth has the main character, Edward Feathers, see a parhelion from the window of a plane at sunrise on New Year's Day: "Later he looked down upon a fat carpet of clouds and saw something he had never seen in his life before. Two suns stood side by side in the sky. A parhelion. A formidable and ancient omen of something or other, he forgot what.".
Fine arts
- One of Robert Rauschenberg
Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist who came to prominence in the 1950s transition from Abstract Expressionism to Pop Art. Rauschenberg is perhaps most famous for his "Combines" of the 1950s, in which non-traditional materials and objects were employed in innovative combinations...
's early experiments in 1962 employing the silk-screen process to reuse previously published images in Combine Paintings is titled Sun Dog.
Film & popular culture
- Sun dogs appear in the film The Deer Hunter
The Deer Hunter is a war drama film co-written and directed by Michael Cimino about a trio of Russian American steel worker friends and their infantry service in the Vietnam War...
. At the beginning of the film, as the men are leaving work, they see the phenomenon. Robert De NiroRobert Mario De Niro, Jr. is an American actor, director, and producer.De Niro is well-known for his method acting and portrayals of conflicted, troubled characters and for his enduring collaboration with director Martin Scorsese...
's character describes it as an 'old Indian thing' and "A blessing on the hunter sent by the great wolf to his children".
- The minor league hockey team, the Arizona Sundogs
The Arizona Sundogs are a minor-league ice hockey team based in Prescott Valley, Arizona that began play in 2006. Participating in the Central Hockey League, the team plays its home games at Tim's Toyota Center. They are rivals with the New Mexico Scorpions, in large part, due to their playoff...
, is named after this phenomenon. Their logo features the letter "S" surrounding twin suns.
Popular music
- Sun dogs are referenced in Rush
Rush is a Canadian rock band originally formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...
's 1989 song "Chain Lightning" on the album PrestoPresto is the thirteenth studio album by the Canadian rock band Rush, released in 1989 . The album was recorded at Le Studio in Morin Heights and at McClear Place in Toronto....
. Neil PeartNeil Ellwood Peart OC, is a Canadian musician and author. He is best-known as the drummer and lyricist for the rock band Rush....
(lyricist) has been quoted as saying:"I'm a weather fanatic...I watch the weather...and one night I was watching it and there are two incidents in that song that are synchronicity to one weather report where the weatherman showed a picture of sun dogs...they're a really beautiful natural phenomenon and I love the name, too. Sun dogs just has a great sound to it."
- The band Of Montreal
of Montreal is an American indie pop band formed in Athens, Georgia. Fronted by Kevin Barnes, it was among the second wave of groups to emerge from The Elephant 6 Recording Company.-History:...
used the image in the lyrics to "The Past Is a Grotesque Animal" on the 2007 album Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer? is the eighth album from indie pop band of Montreal. It was released January 23, 2007. The album was written, performed, and recorded by Kevin Barnes, with assistance from friends and family: prominent Elephant Six members Bryan Poole, Jamey Huggins and Heather...
:
I've played the unraveler, the parhelion
But even Apocalypse is fleeting
There's no death, no ugly world
- The British neofolk
Neofolk is a form of folk music-inspired experimental music that emerged from post-industrial music circles. Neofolk can either be solely acoustic folk music or a blend of acoustic folk instrumentation aided by varieties of accompanying sounds such as pianos, strings and elements of industrial...
band Death in JuneDeath in June is a post-industrial music group led by English folk musician Douglas Pearce, better known as Douglas P. The band was originally formed in Britain in 1981 as a trio, but after the other members left in 1985 to work on other projects, the group became the work of Douglas P. and various...
put out an EP called "Sun dogs" in 1994.
- Athens, Georgia based jam band Perpetual Groove have back to back songs titled "Perihelion" and "Sun Dog" on their 2003 release Sweet Oblivious Antidote. They are instrumental tracks.
See also
- 120° parhelion
A 120° parhelion is a relatively rare halo, an optical phenomenon occasionally appearing along with very bright sun dogs as ice crystal-saturated cirrus clouds fill the atmosphere...
- Anthelion
An anthelion is a rare optical phenomenon appearing on the parhelic circle opposite to the sun as a faint white halo, not unlike a sundog.How anthelions are formed is disputed...
- Circumhorizontal arc
A circumhorizontal arc is an optical phenomenon, an ice-halo formed by plate shaped ice crystals in high level cirrus clouds.The current accepted technical names are circumhorizon arc or Lower symmetric 46° plate arc. The term 'fire rainbow' coined recently by a journalist is not recognised...
- False sunrise
A false sunrise or dawn sundog is a very particular kind of parhelion, belonging to the optical phenomenon family of halos.It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon associated with the reflection or refraction of sunlight by small ice crystals making up cirrus or cirrostratus clouds in the very...
- Liljequist parhelion
A Liljequist parhelion is a rare halo, an optical phenomenon appearing on the parhelic circle approximately ±150-160° from the sun between a 120° parhelion and the anthelion ....
- Moon dog
A moon dog or moondog is a relatively rare bright circular spot on a lunar halo caused by the refraction of moonlight by hexagonal-plate-shaped ice crystals in cirrus or cirrostratus clouds. Moondogs appear to the left and right of the moon 22° or more distant...
- The Miracle of the Sun
The Miracle of the Sun is an alleged miraculous event witnessed by as many as 100,000 people on 13 October 1917 in the Cova da Iria fields near Fátima, Portugal...
External links