But I thought this weird glare effect on a cloud to the East (I snapped this at the end of the Mather Field off ramp) was pretty cool.
Just the right angle? Or maybe ice up in the higher atmosphere? Anybody else see this?
That is all.
Not exactly a double rainbow
The Sac Rag 
Sundog, dawg. Should have been another one on the other side of the sun.
LikeLike
That looks about right. The thing about Squirty Tip is you learn something every day.
LikeLike
I once had an . . . experience, which, as an agnostic/skeptic type, really had an impact on me. While walking my dog one day, very early in the morning. groundskeeping at the . . . “educational institution” I lived near must have mowed the area on the day/evening before.
As my dog and I walked across the greenery (a really nicely mowed lawn- maybe the weekend of graduation? Flat grass, perfectly mowed, unmolested by others) I experienced one of the (without a doubt, *the* top err . . . non-pharmaceutically enhanced) most profound events in my life, wherein (in the very early 90s, before you could whip out your phone and Google it) the experience caused me to question my fundamental beliefs about myself and the universe, due mostly to my distinct and innate reaction to it.
While walking across the grass, I observed my long shadow, along with that of my dog. While glancing at my own shadow, I could not help but be startled to notice a rainbow, of what only I can describe as a “halo,” around my own head, and only around my head’s shadow. It was a perfect circle, centered on my head, and “Roy G Biv” in every brightness and clarity. Only around my head: Not around my dog’s head (I looked), and it followed me however I tried to duck, move, or run.
I’m a “fundamentally scientific/rational” kind of person. The concept of “God” or a “higher being” sort, controlling us peons on earth just doesn’t make sense. But my “gut” reaction to what I was seeing was so far outside my inherent training, belief system, and logical analysis, that I, to this day, have been enthralled by both the phenomenon, and, to a more private extent, my personal immediate and seemingly innate reaction to what I was seeing.
There was no fear, and no “self importance” (“I must be the chosen one” type feeling), but more of a “something is telling me something important” sensation. We reached the concrete path, and the perception went away, but the “get reaction” causes me room for doubt of agnostic beliefs.
Natural phenomena? Yep- according to wiki. But that doesn’t explain my “gut reaction;” my “back to basics” go to attempt to “explain” or understand what I was seeing. Maybe we are hard wired for a bottom level default, or maybe there IS something when all else fails to explain. Anyway, wiki calls it this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heiligenschein
Until you experience it without being tainted by the “scientific” theory, you can’t understand what I think some people mean by “faith” in their religion.
LikeLike
good story. It is easy to see how Romans or medievals would interpret something like this as a religious event.
I totally buy the scientific explanation, but I am also going to convert to Turtyism as well. If by chance you are the next messiah, I might as well cover my bases.
LikeLike
Maybe coincidence or maybe Turty and I do the same things but I recognized it as a Sundog only because I read about them on Wikipedia linking off their featured article about cirrus clouds Wednesday or Thursday. Would have been clueless a week ago.
I just wish I’d seen it.
LikeLike
Sundogs are pretty common, esp this time of year in Sac. Very late afternoon, on hazy/wispy cloudy days- toward the sun, rather than like rainbows, in which the sun is at your back. Moon rings too, which are technically related to sundogs I believe, are common with thin haze (at night).
LikeLike