Strange but beautiful halo on the sun

A strange phenomenon in the south Okanagan sky Saturday afternoon.

So strange, that people started taking pictures of the sun with their mobile phones and sending those pictures out into the world on Twitter.

It was what some called a rainbow around the sun. Others referred to the atmospheric anomaly as sun dogs.

"Just looked up to see a crazy rainbow that fully circles the sun…..and its not raining. #Penticton #LookUp," according to a tweet from Steve Latchford @therapywinemkr.

"Spotted this amazing #sundog while browsing @Art Knapps garden party sale! #weatherphenomenon," says Megan Traicheff, who goes buy the handle VineBird on Twitter.

The person in charge of the London Drugs Twitter account in Penticton tweeted, "In the skies over Penticton, right now!"

According to Wikipedia, "a sun dog is an atmospheric phenomenon that create bright spots of light in the sky, often on a luminous ring or halo on either side of the sun. They can be seen anywhere in the world during any season, but they aren't always obvious or bright."

So the mystery is solved. The beautiful ring around the sun was indeed a sun dog.