SDO Sundog Mystery

OMG! NASA killed a sundog! But as a result they've discovered a new type of ice halo.

February 11, 2011: NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO), best known for cutting-edge images of the sun, has made a discovery right here on Earth.

"It's a new form of ice halo," says atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley of England. "We saw it for the first time at the launch of SDO--and it is teaching us new things about how shock waves interact with clouds."

Ice halos are rings and arcs of light that appear in the sky when sunlight shines through ice crystals in the air. A familiar example is the sundog—a rainbow-colored splash often seen to the left or right of the morning sun. Sundogs are formed by plate-shaped ice crystals drifting down from the sky like leaves fluttering from trees.

Last year, SDO destroyed a sundog—and that's how the new halo was discovered.

SDO Sundog Mystery

(Hopefully the full article (with video) will also be informative to those who still think sundogs are evidence of chemtrails or planet Nibiru)

Now that is COOL!!!!

Looks just like a sun dog I took a pic of about a week ago...they seem to be more common lately.

reply to post by Essan
My question is why did they do this experiment, not having any knowledge of research in this field?

What do they mean by 'destroyed a sundog'? How can you destroy a light effect?

reply to post by kalenga


I think it's just coincidence - the launch happened to take the rocket straight through some cirrus clouds that just happened to be producing a sundog. Only afterwards, seeing the film footage, did someone then think to use the film to investigate how the ice crystals were dispersed.

reply to post by Alex505


Because the rocket dispersed the ice crystals as it passed through them, they stopped refracting the sun and the sundog disappeared - so in effect, it was 'destroyed'. But yes, they are just optical effects.

Nature is wonderful!

reply to post by Essan
From my limited knowledge it seems they thought the ice particles would be in a chaotic state but they were in a uniform state with an actual conformity that seemed odd in their further investigations on the disruption of the sundog?
My mind wants to know more as to why this is important to these scientists?

Wow! Look at the halo created after SDO destroyed the sundog by launching into it.

Originally posted by kalenga
My mind wants to know more as to why this is important to these scientists?

Because by their nature, scientists are interested in learning new things It's why we're not still living in caves or cowering in fear as angry gods throw thunderbolts at each other, creating a storm.