Sun Dog

Sun dogs are also very common ice halos, and these are usually seen when the sun is low in the sky. They occur in pairs, directly to the left and right of the sun, though whether or not you can see both sun dogs in the pair depends on the extent of the icy cirrus cloud. If you are lucky, you may see a pair of sun dogs on the edge of a 22⁰ halo, level with the sun.

Sun dogs form in a similar way to a 22⁰ halo. However, they are formed by flat, hexagonal plate crystals. The plate crystals drift gently downwards in the air. This motion causes them to align themselves horizontally (more or less) due to air resistance. Because these crystals are aligned horizontally, they work to focus light either side of the sun. This creates two very bright spots to the left and right of the sun, with red light on the inside edge.

This photo shows a single sun dog to the right of the sun, and was taken in Wellington in August 2016.

Photo taken by photographer Jonathan Usher.