In what is called a “rare optical illusion”, three bright suns were seen in the sky over a the Chinese city of Mohe this week.
According to reports, not one, but three suns were seen in Mohe town of Tuqiang for about 3 hours — from 6:30 am to 9:30 am.
A stunning video, that went viral on social media, was released by a town resident that showed three difference suns shining bright in the blue sky.
In the video, two bright spots, called “phantom suns”, can be seen on the left and right side of the real sun.
The Twitter user had shared the video with the caption: “Three suns appeared in the sky of NE China’s Mohe for hours as the residents were amazed by the natural spectacle, which also known as ‘sun dogs'”.
Three suns appeared in the sky of NE China's Mohe for hours as the residents were amazed by the natural spectacle, which also known as 'sun dogs'. pic.twitter.com/oeOyRzMwKW
— People's Daily, China (@PDChina) October 15, 2020
A SUNDOG — “SPOTS OF COLOR BESIDE THE SUN”
This unusual event is a rare optical illusion caused by a natural phenomenon known as a ‘sundog’. “They are frequently observed on a ring or halo around the sun,” a report in Live Science said.
A sundog happens when sunlight passes through ice crystals in a particular way when they are suspended in the air.
“Sundogs are one of the most common types of ice halo. They occur when light rays enter the side of an ice crystal and leave through another side inclined about 60 degrees to the first,” the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Nasa) said.
Nasa quoted atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley as saying that sundogs are like a “new type of ice halos”. They are formed by plate-shaped ice crystals drifting down from the sky like leaves fluttering from trees.
“Ice halos are rings and arcs of light that appear in the sky when sunlight shines through ice crystals in the air,” Nasa said.
“A familiar example is the sundog — a rainbow-colored splash often seen to the left or right of the morning sun,” the space agency said.
According to the report in LiveScience, sundogs also occurs when ice crystals in the atmosphere are more common, but can be seen whenever and wherever there are cirrus clouds.
“Sundogs often appear as coloured areas of light to the left or right of the sun, 22 degrees distant and at the same distance above the horizon as the sun,” the report said.
Meanwhile, a report in Daily mail said that a sundog is most visible when “the sun is lower on the horizon in January, April, August and October”.
According to Cowley, a sundog was first witnesses at the launch of SDO–and it is teaching us new things about how shock waves interact with clouds.”