MOCK SUNS

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 12

MOCK SUNS

Unusual Phenomenon Seen Mock suns, or parhelia, were seen on Saturday afternoon. Observers at West Melton report that the “suns” were unusually bright and that the halos with which they are associated were clearly distinguishable. One halo, in the form of a flat, inverted arch, passed through the sun. Where this intersected another halo encircling the sun the mock suns appeared—bright balls of coloured light on either side of the sun, about 20 degrees apart, and each a little higher above the horizon than the real sun. Traces of two other halos could be seen, intermittently, high in the sky. One appeared to pass inside the circular halo but did not produce mock suns at the points of intersection; the second seemed to have no obvious connexion with the others. The images of the mock suns and the halos, all showing the characteristic colour graduations of the rainbow, formed, disappeared, and re-formed in a changing ceiling of misty high cloud. The phenomenon is said to be due to the refraction of light by ice crystals Jn the upper air. A Weather Office spokesman said yesterday that mo.„ suns were rarely seen In New Zealand, but halos circling the sun or moon were reasonably common.