Anyone looking up at the sky on Tuesday, just before sunset, would have seen something strange - two suns.

In a rare phenomenon, that seems to have gone unnoticed by many, Malta experienced what is known as a sundog, or mock sun. Victoria Massalha was one of the lucky ones who spotted it while driving home in the Mizieb area. 

"I was looking up at the sky on my way home and thought: look, there's a rainbow in the sun," she said.

Ms Massalha managed to take photos and a video of the rare sight and shared them with our readers for all to enjoy.

Victoria Massalha filmed the mock sun, or sundog, on Tuesday.

What is a mock sun? 

A mock sun, or sundog, is an atmospheric optical phenomenon that consists of a bright spot to one or both sides of the sun. It is a member of the family of halos, caused by the refraction of sunlight by ice crystals in the atmosphere.

Sundogs typically appear as a pair of subtly coloured patches of light, around 22° to the left and right of the sun, and at the same altitude above the horizon as the sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but are not always obvious or bright. Sun dogs are best seen and most conspicuous when the sun is near the horizon.

Technically known as parhelia, they are often white but sometimes quite colourful, looking like detached pieces of rainbow, with red on the inside, toward the sun, and blue on the outside, according to Skyandtelescope.com.

 

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