The film you are about to see was recorded on January 31st, 2003, from 2:40 P.M. to 2:49 P.M.,PST, at Summerland beach which is near Santa Barbara, California.

While walking my dogs on the beach, on this sunny warm afternoon, I glanced up and saw through scattered clouds, a colored circle halo which surrounded the Sun. Also, I saw two other Suns, one at 9 o'clock and the other at 3 o'clock positioned around the Sun. I realized that I was observing an optical phenomena, my first Sun Dog (Parahelia). By the time I started recording this event with my Sony DCR-PC -101 Digital Handycam, the Sun located at the 3 o'clock had vanished, leaving the halo and Sun at the 9 o'clock position, which clearly shows in the film.

Sun Dogs, also called mock suns, are colored Iuminous spots which are caused by the refraction of light by six-sided ice crystals in the atmosphere. These bright spots form in the solar halo at points that are 22 degrees on either side of the Sun and at the same elevation as the Sun.