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Unexplainable event


Queso

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exactly one year ago today i was driving down a street with my friend britney. it was quarter to six and the sun was still shining bright. we both looked at the sky and there were two suns. i don't remember if they were different sizes, or the least bit of color difference. we were both so amazed. and for the record, we were both sober.

 

i know there wasn't two suns up there in space, we would have been sizzled. what i'm wondering is how the hell two suns appeared to be in the sky.

obviously this was some sort of illusion...has anybody ever seen this, or does anybody know ANYTHING about this? it even led me to go home and paint the street and the sky with pastels because i needed to document it so bad!

 

i had completely forgotten about this event until one of my buddies reminded me today. i am still competely dumbfounded and amazed and dying for an explanation, and this is the best place for it.

 

please do not make sarcastic remarks about acid flashbacks or something, because well i've never done acid, and the person sitting right next to me saw it too, who has ALSO never done acid. :xx: thank you!

 

attached is the pastel i drew when i got home. (im not an artist) the sun on the left is the "normal" usual sun that sets behind the santa cruz mountains. the right one being it's bastard mystery clone!

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Whata ya mean you're not an artist? That picture is way cool!

 

Were there any clouds in the sky at all? Inversion layers can kind a do that sort of thing. Also, in the car, you can get some wacko visual effects from stuff refracting off the windsheild. I spend a lot of time in a car, and I see the wierdest things there...

 

An actual second Sun would have had lots of wierd gravity effects in addtion to the doubling of infrared and other radiation you mention. You also draw it as a different color which is interesting, but still might indicate a reflection off a colored object (bright enough and you can't tell what its diameter is).

 

Facinating,

Buffy

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yeah i've seen the windsheild do some weird things too...but not THAT weird. as for clouds... i don't remember.

but that's what i was thinking, that the sky was somehow refracting, or reflecting,( i dont know the right term, ) the suns image across the sky.

 

we both only saw this for a minute or so, we turned left down another street and the sky was blocked by trees. i went home after that.

 

it must have been brief because i would assume this would cause mass confusion if it lasted a while.

 

p.s. thanks buffy :xx:

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___You might try e-mailing the optics expert at spaceweather.com; he's always explaining different effects like this, eg. double rainbows. :xx:

___Whatever the cause, it's another gesture from the world for you Orby (& your girl :) ).

The drawing was a good idea as well. :)

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___As I understand it, it is refraction from particular shapes of ice crystals in the air which are oriented a particular way.

___If you visit spaceweather frequently, you will see articles on sundogs of many varieties (there are Moon dogs too) along with Wes's explanation. You may also find these in their archives I suppose.

___Keep looking skyward!

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well if it's ice that would not make any sense because i saw this in the bay area, california, exactly one year ago.... :xx: that looks exactly like it though...can sundogs appear without the ice?

Clouds can often have ice crystals even if it is 60 or 70 on the ground. Haven't you ever been in a midsummer hailstorm? I guess some similar effects might be possible with water vapor as well.

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___No ice, no dogs. While freezing temp is common to crystals & hail, hail doesn't produce sundogs. The freezing is an artifact of lower temp at high elevation, yes. I'll look for an archived story where Less describes the size & shape of the crystals necessary to produce this effect. :xx:

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