Munich Parhelion

September 10, 2007

Parhelion_20061031_municha

Provided and copyright by: Robert Wagner, Max Planck Institute for Physics
Summary authors & editors: Robert Wagner

The picture above shows an extraordinarily colorful parhelion (sundog) in a thin veil of cirrus clouds. The Sun is positioned approximately 22 degrees to the left of this dazzling swatch of light. Parhelia are the brightest and most commonly observed halo phenomena. They form as a result of refraction and reflection of sunlight in similarly aligned, plate shaped ice crystals. Photo taken on the morning of October 31, 2006, from Munich, Germany.