[thedoc (OP)]

Ed Wilson  asked the Naked Scientists:
   
A few weeks ago I saw a strange coloured patch in a thin cloud well up in the sky.  Since I was travelling in a car at the time, and passing between buildings, it was difficult to see what was going on.  Finally it became clear that it was level with the sun, and that there was another, weaker patch at the corresponding place on the other side.

There was hazy cloud across the sky but a thin but more substantial patch at an altitude which appeared at that moment, from my position on the ground, to be at the same height as the sun.  And I seemed to be seeing a slice through a very small ring rainbow which would never "touch the ground".

Is my analysis right, and is this kind of thing observed often?

Ed


   

What do you think?

[chiralSPO]

Sounds like it could have been a "sun dog" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_dogs)