You've probably eaten a hot dog and felt like the underdog, but have you spotted a sundog?
Hint:it's not your pet pooch snoozing in a sunbeam!
A sundog is a weather event that causes two bright bursts
of rainbow colored light to appear on either side of the sun.
If the sun were a clock, you would see them around 3 o'clock and 9 o'clock.
Sometimes they appear with a halo around the sun.
Sundogs can be very beautiful, with a reddish glow closest to the sun and a bluish white center.
The scientific name for sundogs is parhelia, which comes from a Greek meaning "beside the sun."
Conditions need to be just right for sundogs to appear.
Sunlight passes through high, cold cirrus clouds feathered in front of the sun.
These clouds contain flat, 6-sided ice crystals.
If the plate-like crystals drift toward the ground horizontally
with the large face towards the earth, light is refracted through the sides.
The crystals act as prisms, separating the light and forming the sundog.
Sundogs can be seen during any season but are most often seen
during the winter months when the sun is lower in the sky.
You are also more likely to see them early or late in the day, when the sun is near the horizon.
The most brilliant sundogs happen on sunny days.
Sundogs have been spotted around the world,
across North America, Europe, and Asia, at the South Pole and in the far north.
Scientists have even predicted what sundogs might look like on other planets.
On the larger gas planet like Jupiter and Neptune,
a halo around the sun might have four or more sundogs
because of different ice crystal shapes held in the gases.
Throughout history,sundogs have been used to predict weather
because they often indicate that snow or rain is on its way.
Some people believed that sundogs were magical eventsor a sign of good luck or encouragement,
while others saw them as the warning from God.
Famous authors such as William Shakespeare and Jack London have described sundogs
in stories and poems as both frightening and amazing.
Artists have been inspired to capture the beauty of sundogs in drawings, paintings,and photography,
and rock bands have even written songs about them.
The name "sundog" has also been used to described things other than the weather event.
In the 1980s, the video game company Atari released a popular game called SunDog:Frozen Legacy.
There are even Sundog toy cattle--miniature cows that
stand about three feet tall and are raised as pets.
Ready to try out your weather detective skills?
First, use your hand to block the center of the sun to protect your eyes.
Search for wispy clouds in a winter sky and a circle or burst of light around the sun.
Be sure to show off your sundog smarts to your friends and family--you'll be their top dog1！