Mystery in the Sky: What is the Rainbow-Shaped Cloud?

[moose]

What IS this?

Yesterday I was driving home from school when I saw that in the clouds there was what seemed to look like a portion of a rainbow

I thought it was weird, so I took a picture of it while driving, with my cell phone, so it's not the best quality

Anyway, today I was driving home from school, and again, in the same exact location, it was there again! What is this?

I'm in Arizona and this was almost exactly to the West.

this is just the rainbow looking thing, click on the picture to see the full pic
http://www.twilightus.net/adam/DSC00742.JPG"

Also, today it appeared to be slightly larger with more vibrant colors.

 

[larkspur]

Yesterday I was driving home from school when I saw that in the clouds there was what seemed to look like a portion of a rainbow

I thought it was weird, so I took a picture of it while driving, with my cell phone, so it's not the best quality

Anyway, today I was driving home from school, and again, in the same exact location, it was there again! What is this?

I'm in Arizona and this was almost exactly to the West.

this is just the rainbow looking thing, click on the picture to see the full pic
http://www.twilightus.net/adam/DSC00742.JPG"

Also, today it appeared to be slightly larger with more vibrant colors.

I saw that prism effect when I was driving home today! Are you sure you don't live in Knoxville?

Edit: Have you ever noticed that you can see it better with polarized sunglasses?

 

[JamesU]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parhelion

 

[moose]

Thanks yomamma!

 

[rewebster]

It's a sun dog



http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/elements/sundog.htm

 

[JasonRox]

I thought it was weird, so I took a picture of it while driving, with my cell phone, so it's not the best quality

Um... it wasn't the best decision either.

 

[moose]

Um... it wasn't the best decision either.

I was at a red light.

 

[JasonRox]

I was at a red light.

You did all that in 3 seconds?

 

[moose]

You did all that in 3 seconds?

One button takes a picture. I pointed the cell phone in the general direction, pressed the button. Plus, the light just turned red as I was pulling up to the intersection, so I had more than 3 seconds anyway.

EDIT: Notice how in the full pic, the sun dog is not in the center at all.

 

[Evo]

Moose, that is so cool! I missed my once in a lifetime opportunity to photograph a sun column. A dozen cameras, and none had working batteries.

 

[moose]

Evo, I just searched what a sun column is... That is awesome, I hope that I'll get to see one someday! Sucks about the batteries though

lol, I looked today, and there was no sun dog out to greet me

 

[Evo]

Evo, I just searched what a sun column is...

This column was incredible, I have yet to find a picture that comes close to what I saw. It was a solid hot pink column and it was almost a full inch wide (from my perspective).

You were extremely lucky to see that sundog. I envy you.

I did see another phenomena years ago. It was a circle around the moon that started as a halo just around the full moon, but as we watched, it started moving out, away from the moon, but remained a perfect circle, just growing larger and larger. It was a thin band that kept expanding out. We watched until it reached the edges of the viewable sky. I have yet to see a description of this exactly, but have found reference to a somewhat similar phenomenom caused by ice crystals in the air. It was reported on the news, but they had no explanation of it. Tons of people were calling in asking what it was. It was so many years ago, I don't believe there is any film of it.

 

[moose]

Tons of people were calling in asking what it was.

It was a glitch in the energy shield bubble covering the Earth by the aliens!

I hope that I will see cool effects in my lifetime! Maybe we should have a thread on what weird things people have seen in the sky.