1. S U N D O G S
BY : ENUNG NURHIDAYAH KUSUMA PUTRI

2. SUN DOGS PHENOMENON
A sun dog or sundog, scientific name parhelion
(parhelia) from Greek (parēlion), meaning "beside the
sun"; from para, meaning "beside", and helios, meaning
"sun", also called a mock sun or a phantom sun, is an
atmospheric phenomenon that creates bright spots of
light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either
side of the sun.
Sundogs may appear as a colored patch of
light to the left or right of the sun, 22 distant and at the
same distance above the horizon as the sun, and in ice
halos. They can be seen anywhere in the world during
any season, but they are not always obvious or bright.
Sundogs are best seen and are most conspicuous when
the sun is low.

3. Sundogs are commonly made by the
refraction of light from plate-shaped hexagonal ice
crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or, during
very cold weather, these ice crystals are called
diamond dust, and drift in the air at low levels.
These crystals act as prisms, bending the light rays
passing through them with a minimum deflection of
22 . If the crystals are randomly oriented, a
complete ring around the sun is seen — a halo. But
often, as the crystals sink through the air, they
become vertically aligned, so sunlight is refracted
horizontally — in this case, sundogs are seen.