DENVER ( KDVR ) — After a snowy and frigid Wednesday morning, viewers from across Colorado sent in photos of what appears to be colorful spots on either side of the sun. These are known as sun dogs.
Wednesday morning, several people captured a beautiful sunrise, but some photos showed a halo with “multiple suns.”
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Photos, like this one taken by Officer McCabe with the Thornton Police Department , show the sun directly in the middle of the frame with bright and colorful spots on either side. This optical illusion is colloquially known as a sun dog, but officially known as “parhelia,” which is Greek for “next to the sun,” according to FOX Weather.
The National Weather Service said sun dogs develop due to light refracting off of ice crystals. Depending on where the ice crystals are located and their shape, the sun dogs, or the bright spots, appear approximately 22 degrees left, right or on both sides of the sun.
“The colors usually go from red closest to the sun, out to blue on the outside of the sundog,” said the NWS.
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The Almanac said sun dogs are similar to rainbows…