Sundogs...

[casil403]

leaving school this morning I was fortunate to witness 2 sundogs in the sky....AND I had my camera!
The sparkly stuff in the shot is floating ice crystals.
Left side:


Right side:

What is a sundog you ask? From wikipedia:
A sun dog or sundog (also called a mock 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.(formed by ice crystals)
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. Sundogs are formed by plate shaped hexagonal ice crystals in high and cold cirrus clouds or - during very cold weather - by ice crystals called diamond dust drifting in the air at low level.
Sun dogs orrur when the sun is at a 45 degree angle and the sun is at its lowest point.
As the sun rises higher the rays passing through the crystals are increasingly skewed from the horizontal plane. Their angle of deviation increases and the sundogs move further from the sun.However, they always stay at the same altitude as the sun.
Sundogs are red colored at the side nearest the sun. Farther out the colors grade through oranges to blue. However, the colors overlap considerably and so are muted, never pure or saturated. The colors of the sundog finally merge into the white of the parhelic circle (if the latter is visible).

[Mad Aussie]

Oh that's so cool! Never heard of or seen a sundog before!! Love the ice crystals in the air ... something else I've never seen or heard of!!

Looks like you need your mirror and/or sensor cleaned

[casil403]

Oh that's so cool! Never heard of or seen a sundog before!! Love the ice crystals in the air ... something else I've never seen or heard of!!

Looks like you need your mirror and/or sensor cleaned

Thanks MA....for the comment and the pickup. Missed a couple...got the others. I think it needs a run into the shop for a good internal cleaning,

[Hillbillygirl]

Cool shots of the sundogs Casil. Those are some of the clearest and brightest I have seen.
Sundogs are also a guarantee of precipitation within 48 hrs of seeing them.

[casil403]

Thanks HBG

[Mad Aussie]

Thanks MA....for the comment and the pickup. Missed a couple...got the others. I think it needs a run into the shop for a good internal cleaning,

Buy a kit and clean it yourself Casil ... it's so easy!
We paid $100 to get a sensor cleaned for Chantelle when she bought my 400D camera and after that we decided checked out the cleaning kits ... way cheaper and surprisingly it's not rocket science at all.

[casil403]

I am cleaning it with a kit every week almost and still I get sust on there...can't seem to get rid of it. Should i be doing it that often...is that normal?

[Mad Aussie]

I am cleaning it with a kit every week almost and still I get sust on there...can't seem to get rid of it. Should i be doing it that often...is that normal?

No ... that's not normal at all. Unless you live in a very dusty place ... like outback Australia maybe??
I'd say you either aren't getting it all or there's something unusual introducing the dust into the camera body.

How often do change lenses?

Could there be some sort strong static issue involved? Do you run around in nylons on a woolen floor then go play with your camera?

I assume you take the usual precautions ... like holding the camera body downwards when lens changing? Making the change as quickly as possibly?

[MoinMoin]

That looks great! I've never herad about sundogs before - thanks for sharing with us.