A sun dog is a prismatic effect formed when sunlight is refracted through plate-shaped ice crystals. On February 11, the Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory flew past a sun dog during its launch. The shock waves produced by the first-stage rocket motor completely obliterated the sun dog.
The shock waves are clearly visible in this amateur video @ 1:53. The sun dog is the colored patch in the cirrus clouds located to the right of center.
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4 days ago
Neat!
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