Sun Dogs & Moon Dogs!
OK, here's something I hadn't seen before. Apparently, the conditions in Fargo are just right for the phenomena known as sun dogs and moon dogs.
When it's cold enough and the atmosphere is full of ice crystals, the sun and moon get rainbow halos around them.
I received a call at the courthouse this afternoon from my colleague J., who was out running an errand. "Get to a window," he commanded. The sun dogs were out. It was a little cloudy today, so the full effect was not seen. Also, I only had my camera phone, and could not get a good shot of them – the rainbow was overwhelmed by the sun.
I had better luck tonight, when Jen called me away from tucking in Katie (and called Katie, too), to check out the night sky. This is the lower arc of the rainbow that is totally encircling the moon here tonight:
I stuck the camera and tripod out the back door onto the porch into the zero-degree weather, and shivered while it took a 13-second exposure. Apparently, you only get moon dogs when the moon is full – lucky us!
When sun dogs appeared over Sweden in the 16th century, they were thought to be omens of God's forthcoming revenge on the Swedish ruler. I will avoid saying that America should be so lucky.
When it's cold enough and the atmosphere is full of ice crystals, the sun and moon get rainbow halos around them.
I received a call at the courthouse this afternoon from my colleague J., who was out running an errand. "Get to a window," he commanded. The sun dogs were out. It was a little cloudy today, so the full effect was not seen. Also, I only had my camera phone, and could not get a good shot of them – the rainbow was overwhelmed by the sun.
I had better luck tonight, when Jen called me away from tucking in Katie (and called Katie, too), to check out the night sky. This is the lower arc of the rainbow that is totally encircling the moon here tonight:
I stuck the camera and tripod out the back door onto the porch into the zero-degree weather, and shivered while it took a 13-second exposure. Apparently, you only get moon dogs when the moon is full – lucky us!When sun dogs appeared over Sweden in the 16th century, they were thought to be omens of God's forthcoming revenge on the Swedish ruler. I will avoid saying that America should be so lucky.
posted by Tom at 11:06 PM
2 Comments:
NPR, the BBC, Garrison Keillor, David Letterman, Ira Glass... and now Fargoing. I used to enjoy all of these, and then they had to tip their hands and give the wink and snide remark. The nod, that says "yeah, I hate Bush, he's worse than the head sawing jihadis, and they would leave us alone if we just talked to them and repented for our sins against them..." *sigh* Goodbye.
Saw my first sun dog in Colorado in 88; what really struck me is the colors were in reverse order: Instead of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, it was violet, indigo, blue, etc. The thing was, it wasn't really obvious what was "wrong," but just looking at it made you a little uneasy. Maybe that's what freaked out the Swedes...
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