IT’S A MATTER OF DEGREES

In a world that seems to have turned on us (or perhaps is seeking revenge on us), it’s nice to know something makes sense, something is predictable.

Hear Ye, 

Hear Ye, 

Here Ye:

 Sun dogs make sense.

Sun dogs are like rainbow parenthesis on either side of the sun. They are a beautiful sight, a little unexpected bonus in an otherwise normal day. They often occur later in the day, just when you need a boost. And sun dogs have a wonderful name: Parhelion for one, Parhelia for more than one. It's Greek for by the sun. Aristotle called sun dogs mock suns. Of course he called everything something.

You can catch a glimpse of sun dogs in the city, but we have a 270° view horizontally and nearly 180° vertically, so sun dogs are a common occurrence.

Is there anything in nature that is this predictable: sun dogs appear 22° on either side of the sun. My own dogs are far more erratic.

To understand why sun dogs occur, you need to search your brain for that file drawer marked Physics and the folders marked Refraction and Angle of minimum deviation. You’re on your own with that. In the case of sun dogs, light is refracted by prisms in the form of hexagonal ice crystals.

The colors of sun dogs are predictable, too–red nearest the sun, then moving through the color spectrum to a white halo on the outside.

If you can’t see a sun dog, perhaps you can catch a moon dog when ice crystals refract moonlight.

I love the surprises in the country: the deer leaning over the fence in the morning, the coyote looking in the double doors, the turkey sniffing my oregano. But it’s also nice to know that some things in nature know how to follow the rules.