Sundogs typically appear when the sun is low... at sunrise and sunset, and the atmosphere is filled with ice crystals forming cirrus clouds. So a cold clear morning or evening. Some sundogs appear as bright white patches of light, sometimes they exhibit a spectrum of colors, ranging from red closest to the sun to a pale blue away from the sun. This configuration gives the impression of a rainbow arc on either side of the sun. White sundogs are caused by light reflecting off of the ice crystals in the air while colored sundogs are caused by light refracted through the ice crystals.

The pictures below capture what was seen by the naked eye, this is not a camera trick!

Well defined sundogs over the St. Joseph River as taken from the pedestrian bridge on the campus of

Indiana University South Bend.

February 2007

Very faint sundog over South Bend Indiana - February 21, 2008

Detail of the same picture as above, check the lower left corner.