A calm winter January sunset on Cayuga Lake with approaching winter storm creates beautiful sunset colors and the start of a sun dog. Sun dogs, also known as mock Suns or false Suns, are dimmer, fuzzier copies of the Sun that appear to the left and right. They form when sunlight bends through hexagonal ice crystals high in the sky, especially when cirrus clouds are present. Sun dogs often display the colors of the rainbow (with reds facing toward the Sun and blues away from it). Depending on the sky conditions, you may only see one or two Sun dogs approximately 22 degrees away from the Sun. When there are more ice crystals in the atmosphere, Sun dogs can extend all the way around to create a full circle, a Sun halo.
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