Spectacular Sundog

This is a photo of a Spectacular Sundog. The sun is on the far left-hand side of the image and shows as a bright spot in the clouds. The brighter colored spot in the middle of the photo is the sundog. A sundog is an atmospheric phenomenon essentially caused by the same refraction of the light seen in a rainbow. The sundogs appear on the left and right side of the sun at a distance depending on the cloud layers. They can appear anytime during the day but are usually seen in the morning or evening as the sun is rising or setting. They are part of a complex system of atmospheric phenomena that create moonbows, halos, and other bright spots in the clouds. The colors are hard to capture. We were driving in New Mexico just outside of Albuquerque and my wife took this through the front window of the car.