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  Parhelic Circle  
 
Parhelic Circle over the Dead Sea imaged by Koby Harati ( Photography site) on March 7, 2007. The camera is pointing straight upwards. The white parhelic circle passes through the sun and circles around sky, everywhere at the same altitude. The coloured halos at top right are fragments of a 22 degree halo, circumscribed arc and, on the parhelic circle, two sundogs. Had the sun been any higher the sundogs would not have formed. Image ©Koby Harati, shown with permission.

The parhelic circle is a white band circling the sky and always at the same height above the horizon as the sun. Most of the time only fragments are seen, usually extending from sundogs in the directions away from the sun. When you see these long tails it is worth checking carefully all around the sky because the colourless parhelic circle can at first be difficult to distinguish from cloud.

Millions of ice crystals with their vertical faces each mirroring the sun around the sky form the circle.