Sundogs - Nice, France

Late afternoon sundogs, Nice, France pictured by Manu Antuna while a passenger traveling through the city. "I absolutely didn't want to miss the phenomenon. The camera was just a small Ixus 110 in fully automatic mode." Do not try this when driving! �Manu Antuna, shown with permission.

In Europe and other temperate climes sundogs are visible on average twice a week. They might be fleeting and not always as spectacular as many pictures we see. Nonetheless they are a welcome sight and remind us of the crystalline perfection and order in apparently chaotic skies.

A vehicle is a good place to appreciate that sundogs, like other halos and rainbows, behave as though they are an infinite distance away regardless of the distance of the crystals that form them. As the landscape slips by they stay fixed relative to the sun or very distant mountains.