A luminous spot occasionally seen a few degrees from the sun, supposed to be formed by the intersection of two or more halos, or in a manner similar to that of halos.
A fragmentary rainbow; a small rainbow near the horizon; -- called also dog and weathergaw.
Sundogs are created when some of the ice crystals become large enough to line up in the atmosphere so as to refract the light in a less random pattern. Instead the light is refracted to cause a mock sun to the left or right (or both) sides of the sun. These mock suns are called "Sundogs" or more scientifically - "parhelia". Sundogs are not as common as halos, but can be seen a few dozen times a year, especially in the winter months. They can be a forecasting tools as the thin clouds of ice crystals are often associated with an approaching storm system.
a bright spot on the parhelic circle; caused by diffraction by ice crystals; "two or more parhelia are usually seen at once"
a bright, shining spot that can be seen near the prairie sun on a cold day, when the sun's light bounces off ice crystals that are very high-up in the sky
a colored luminous spot produced by refraction of light through ice crystals that appears on either side of the sun
an even more elusive natural phenomena, which, utilizes the hexagonal shape of the ice crystals along with a "prefered" horizontal orientation of the crystal's flat faces
a phenomena whereby light is reflected off ice crystals high in the atmosphere to create an illusion of a large, bright object
a rainbow colored halo that surrounds the sun
a colored luminous spot appearing 22 degrees (or somewhat more) on either side of the sun and at the same elevation as the sun