Mock Suns and False Sun
Taken by Alan C Tough on September 3, 2017 @ Elgin, Moray, Scotland
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  Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS 6D
Exposure Time: 1/1600
Aperture: f/10.0
ISO: 125
Date Taken: 2017:09:03 20:17:04
  
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When I looked at the sky this morning the first thing I noticed was a very bright sundog: the brightest one I've ever seen. There was a very faint halo at the top of which was a circumzenithal arc - with wings! Even more remarkable, at about 90 degrees round towards the north, there was a white disc that looked like a fainter version of the Sun, perched on a wide, white arc. I've never seen this phenomenon before and would love to know what it was.
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Beautiful stuff! From your images, I recognize - of course - the 22 degrees sundogs (i.e. that very bright one), a trace of 22 degrees ring with the winged upper tangent arc (not the circumzenithal arc, those is much higher in the sky dome), the parhelic circle (the horizontal arc through the sun and sun dogs), and a 120 degrees parhelion, the white disc, which can be interpreted as a fainter version of the sun indeed. That parhelion is positioned at an AZIMUTHAL distance of 120 degrees from the sun, but if the sun is higher in the sky, its ANGULAR distance from the sun may grow to approximately 90 degrees.
Posted by pphv 2017-09-04 01:56:53
Many thanks for the information. My mistake on the CZA! Checking Stellarium, the Sun was at 28 deg. elevation and 124 deg. azimuth. The white disc was almost due north and so this ties in with the 120 degrees separation from the real Sun.
Posted by astronut2007 2017-09-04 16:17:04
 
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