Talk:Sun dog

message: Recently someone added a sentence about "sunbows", which allegedly involve sunlight passing through "vapor or mist".  This is (a) questionable, as I've never even heard the term "sunbow", in contrast to "glory", "fogbow", and similar well-known optical phenomena, (b) irrelevant to the present article, as it does not refer to the same phenomenon as "sundog", which invariably involves ice crystals and has a different appearance, and (c) technically incorrect, because "vapor" is a gas, invisible and has no optical consequences whatsoever.  I'm therefore deleting the sentence in question.  Gpetty 15:37, 8 September 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Deleting reference to sunbows 

message: "it is only produced in clouds cold enough to be ice rather than water, which only occurs far below 0°C."
I'm a little confused, there is no water below zero degrees. Water freezes (and turns to snow) at zero degrees, not far below. In fact most clouds that high are frozen, even in summer. Perhaps the author meant "cold enough to be ice rather than snow".
At any rate, Personal observations tells me that sun dogs only appear on very cold days.
: (William M. Connolley 09:51, 24 Feb 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Comment 

message: Does anyone know how widely the word "sun dog" is used, less or more so than parhelion? I've not heard of either term, so I don't know if it's common in Britain, but it does sound like an Americanism. Any ideas on this, and also where & why the term originated? --User talk:El Pollo Diablo|Talk 01:38, 26 November 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I say "sun dog" and I'm British. Parhelion is more technical. William M. Connolley 21:10, 6 December 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Usage 

message: I've added what I think is a beautiful picture of this phenomenon.  I took it last year outside of New Ulm, MN.  Axda0002 14:55, 16 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Aesthetic image added 

message: I liked this article but felt it needed a better disposition, so I rearranged things quite a bit. Let me know what you think and, if I messed anything up, don't hesitate to revert it.
  / Mats Halldin (talk) 11:01, 28 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cleanup 2006-01-27 

message: Didn't Edward IV actually see a Parhelion at Mortimer's Cross? I believe there are actually documented sources. The War of the Roses by Alison Weir mentions it, but I don't know it's source.67.85.254.111 23:06, 4 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Edward IV

message: This article repeatedly uses 'e.g.' when 'i.e.' would be more correct (in that they are clarifications rather than examples). Does anyone object to changing this? 212.84.102.228 18:01, 19 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  i.e. / e.g. 

message: How often do sun dogs occur?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.245.122.120 (talk) 02:00, 9 August 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: If you look for them regularly at the right times it may surprise you how often they do occur. Look for small bright patches of light or colored rainbow-like patches the same distance from the horizon as the sun. Best chances when the sun is low in the sky and with some high clouds. Its not necessarily a winter phenomenon, but there are several factors that contribute to them being more likely observed in the winter months.  I have seen two in the last couple months and maybe a dozen or so in my lifetime and thats without actually deliberately looking for them on a regular basis.  However, I've never seen them extremely pronounced as in the couple of very bright ones imaged in this article.  I'm assuming these are a more rare event. Racerx11 (talk) 03:01, 27 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  I have a question 

message: Tidied the technical section, removing several erroneous statements.   Clarified their appearance, where they can be seen and how often. --Halos25 (talk) 16:11, 18 July 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Clean up 18 July 09 

message: I think we should delete this section. Perhaps the woodcut itself has cultural significance, but it belongs elsewhere. The first source cited in this section comes from a site about paranormal activity (at the bottom it says "Return to UFO Home" with an alien picture above it), and the second is in German. I can`t verify that this artwork really is a depiction of sundogs and halos, and I`m convinced that this is likely speculation. SweetNightmares (talk) 17:15, 19 August 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I support this view, it clearly doesn't relate to the phenomenon covered by the article. I will move it to the UFO article.  --79.168.10.241 (talk) 20:16, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

text: The UFO page is protected, so I restored the section even if it doesn't fit I share your view that it has significance enough not to be simply removed.  --79.168.10.241 (talk) 20:20, 8 November 2010 (UTC)

text: This section is appears to be original research, and in violation of Wikipedia's NOR policy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:NOR).  As already noted, it seems both questionable and otherwise unrelated to the articles subject, so I am commenting it out.  RBarryYoung (talk) 17:03, 17 February 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Moved below. -- Beland (talk) 03:17, 3 June 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nuremberg section 

message: I went ahead and removed the Shackleton section. The passage itself was not notable and as far as I can tell was just a routine description of the phenomenon. After looking at the article's history I see that this paragraph may have been useful at some point as part of a larger section of "quotations," but at this point it no longer serves the article. Orange Suede Sofa (talk) 02:51, 27 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Shackleton section 

message: The second image has no sundog in it, just a lens flare. It should be removed. 99.172.153.118 (talk) 21:06, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It does look a little bit like a lens flare but there are subtle differences. Each 'spot' within a lens flare is bokeh-like: a projection of the camera's aperture, with curved facets. The sun dog in the image has a smeared appearance above and below which follow a curve centered around the Sun. My guess would be that the photo was taken with a wide-angle lens, and the subsequent cropping has altered the relative positions of the Sun and sun dog and made them appear more flare-like. Regards, nagualdesign (talk) 23:38, 22 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, even if there is a sundog, it isn't clear at all and is a pretty poor image of it. Not really helping people to understand what a sundog is. 99.172.153.118 (talk) 16:07, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It is a picture of a sun dog. That 'flare' to the left of the Sun is the sun dog. How could it be clearer? Perhaps you could find a better picture. ;-) The article explains what a sun dog is and the images show examples. Deleting or removing an image because you don't like or understand it will not improve Wikipedia. nagualdesign (talk) 21:20, 23 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not going to remove an image because I don't like it or understand it. I just do not think it is necessary or a very good picture because an average person cannot distinguish it from the lens flare next to it. I have a great understanding of halos, and have many other pictures of ordinary sundogs that are much better than this one. I'm just worried it could confuse someone. 99.172.153.118 (talk) 02:13, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I you have another, possibly better image then I'd suggest that you upload it. You are right that sometimes less is more, but we should always try to add value to an article. If other contributors believe that 2 images are better than one then it's good practise to offer an alternative image, rather than removing one. If your image(s) showed a pair of sun dogs, as is the norm, that might be an improvement. nagualdesign (talk) 04:23, 28 November 2011 (UTC)
replies: text:  How exactly do you upload an image on wikipedia? I do have plenty of images that are better, I think a image of an average sundog would be good, the others show exceptional cases. 99.172.153.118 (talk) 21:21, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Assuming that you've already tried the link I provided and perhaps didn't get the same page that I get, maybe you have to be a registered user and sign-in before you can upload? Just a guess. You could try looking for more info at Wikipedia:Upload and Wikipedia:Picture tutorial. Also, when I'm signed in there's a link near the bottom of each image page that says Upload a new version of this file, but I only use that if I have a better copy of the same picture. I think new images should be uploaded separately. Hope that helps. nagualdesign (talk) 22:15, 13 December 2011 (UTC)

text: Read Wikipedia:Uploading images too. Regards, nagualdesign (talk) 22:48, 13 December 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Second image 

message: Every articles on sun dogs talks about ice. What about today in Tucson, a beautiful halo around the sun,
80 degrees?  Could there really be ice up there, or maybe this isn't a sun dog.  April 10, 2012. JDRIS  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Jdris (talk • contribs) 17:32, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: Cirrus clouds (thin, wispy strands) vary in temperature from -20 °C (-4 °F) to -30 °C (-22 °F) and form at 4,000 m (13,000 ft) to 12,000 m (39,000 ft) above sea level. Even above Arizona the air gets pretty cold that high up - higher than the top of Mt. Everest! (diagram) Besides, if you can see Sundogs close to the horizon from Tucson they're much further away than you might think. nagualdesign (talk) 19:53, 10 April 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Today in Tucson 

message: What's the precise difference between these? And glories too? Turkeyphant 20:48, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: You could have a look around http://www.atoptics.co.uk for details. In short: sun dogs (and other ice halos) are caused by refraction in ice crystals. Fog/cloud bows and glories are all formed by liquid water droplets, of varying sizes. Large water drops form rainbows (opposite the Sun), while smaller ones tend to form fog bows, as diffractive effects starts to matter/dominate in smaller droplets. Glories and fog bows can occur together, with the glory typically being small, and the fog bow being roughly the same size as a rainbow. Aeluwas (talk) 21:59, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Sun dog vs fog/cloud bow 

message: Even though it appears very common among laypeople to refer to any ice halo phenomenon (especially the 22° halo) as "sun dog", the term only refers to either of the two spots to the left and right of the sun. Each of them is a separate sun dog; see http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/parhelia.htm. For this reason I would propose to change the title of the page into the plural Sun Dogs (or Sundogs), and/or perhaps add a small section explaining the common misconception. Drabkikker (talk) 06:58, 19 December 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: The Oxford American Dictionary says "sun dog (also sundog)". Bubba73 You talkin' to me? 08:29, 28 December 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposal to change the title into plural "Sun dogs" 

message: I can recall, a long long time ago (as in like 50 years ago!), reading that it was called a "Sun Dog" because it follows close to the Sun like a deog does to its owner. It was so long ago that I cannot recall the source.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 1.129.97.105 (talk) 12:14, 20 May 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Etymology. 

message: There's this belief that in the day of Ashura when Husayn ibn ali was killed there were three Suns in the sky. If true, it could be a Sun dog. Aminabzz (talk) 19:26, 31 October 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ashura