There were 3 Suns over Oslo yesterday, Dec 16. My sighting was made at 10.14 GMT. At first I thought I was observing a vertical rainbow leading straight up into the sky. Then I noticed the sunlight bursting out of the rainbow as if the sun iself was located there. My first thought was that the Sun was behind a cloud. Then I drove my car round a bend and the true Sun appeared. On the opposite side of the Sun there was an identical image of sunlight in another vertical rainbow. I examined the rainbow and it did actually curv and join together at the top, but the two rainbows that appeared to rise straight up into the sky, and that contained the optical images of the Sun, were disconnected from the arc at the top.

Todays newspapers report the phenomena.

Forgot to mention, this phenomena is mentioned in Lilly's "Astrological Predictions for 1648, 1649 and 1650". He includes a letter written by Jeremiah Shakerley, Lancashire regarding observations made on February 28. 1647. Fascimile from M.P.Hall's "Secret Teachings of All Ages".

Hi Andrew,

What a stunning (and envious) sight that must have been, 3 Suns complete with rainbows.

I've seen sun dogs (parhelia) before, but the Sun was always too high in the sky for them to be very bright (above 60 degrees or so they disappear). More often I see moon dogs - they pale by comparison in that the moon dogs are too small to ever be mistaken for 2nd or 3rd Moons. NTL, always a welcome sight.

There is a good photo example of the phenomena at this link, with the 3 Suns rising

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Sund ... ew_Ulm.JPG

Christina

The image you refer to comes close enough to the phenomena observed from my view point on Sunday. I am not particularly familiar with either of these phenomena, have not heard of it before and would easily have mistaken the one for the other. Are the other examples?

Thanks, Christina - this was great!

A friend of mine captured the following image of the Sun from a location 10 miles further northwest from where I was standing. This image is not half as spectacular as what I witnessed, which resembled the image provided by Christina, but notice the interesting "V" at the top!

http://www.astronor.com/solfenomen.JPG

Yes, there are more images - try this link,

http://images.google.com/images?q=sun+d ... s&ct=title

Nor do I know much about parhelia, only that they form due to ice crystals in the atmosphere and are more common to colder climates (oh, duh) and, like the many rainbows where I live, always look for a second one, wider out and fainter, it is usually there.

Here is a diagram showing the parts of Sun halo and optical phenomena that may occur alone or with the sun dogs, such as the "V" of light in your friend's lucky photo.
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hb ... lo.html#c1

The "V" atop the halo with arc above it is extremely rare, much more so than just the sun dogs. The "V" is called an upper tangent arc and the arc above it is called a Parry arc and, according to one site, occurs only a few times per year. The "V" only appears while the Sun is closer to the horizon, therefore does not last as long as the sun dogs. It does not necessarily occur with colors. Compare to sun dog occurence 60 to 90 times per year in certain climates, the V about 20 to 30 and Parry are just a few. Even so, sun dogs do not always have the vibrant rainbow colors that you described, and the Parry arc is not always with the dramatic V. - When the Sun is higher up the arc flattens concave towards the Sun, and even higher it moves from the top to under the Sun (on the halo ring). I have seen concave Parry arcs, top and bottom, but not yet the V.

Sometimes there is a second halo complete with light show, although much fainter. It is easy to overlook because it is so far out from the brighter inner halo. If you ever see a Sun halo or parhelia again look for the 2nd halo.

Some have speculated that the sparkling 'wheel within a wheel' from Ezekiel's vision was a double Sun halo ice crystal phenonmena. Personally, I neither claim nor deny this proposal, but I find it highly interesting that a biblical vision of heavenly angels so closely parallels celestial phenomena. Ezekiel's Cherubim guard and support the Throne and Chariot of God. Sun dogs relate similarly to the Sun (god).

If you and your friend witnessed numerous halo phenonmena combined - Sun, halo with rainbow colors and parhelia, sun pillar, and crowning V-shaped Parry arc - it was a rare and fortunate sight indeed!

Christina

I am impressed! You really are knowledgeable
Is the 3 Suns that Lilly refers to a different phenomena?
I did not see the "V", but from my point the two extra suns or powerful dogs in the vertical rainbows was absolutely spectacular

There is some special stuff going on now, astrologically, which attracts my attention. Mercury's superior conjunction, Jupiter on the soltice with a Capricorn ingress (Pluto getting there soon). But then there is also the signature of Serapis; One Jove, one Pluto and one Sun.

M.P.Hall:
Phylarchus explains the name, saying it meant ?the power that disposed the Universe into its present beautiful order?.

I do have some articles that are 20 years old now touching THAT topic at http://www.astronor.com/serapis.htm

Andrew and Christina
How fascinating! Thank you for posting these incredibly beautiful images

Andrew,

I would be interested in hearing your prognostication based on the 3 Suns over Oslo. We can?t let this slide. Money may be growing on trees here.

Should we look for 3 wise guys on camels passing through town bearing gifts? How has the Norwegian myrrh market been lately? Is there something to be had in frankincense futures? Is this rather weak seasonal humor?

We have had temperatures down to -10C for over a week now. Not a camel in sight. It's not long since they left, though!

I still think global heating is with us. I think the configuration of Serapis occuring on the Capricorn soltice indicates that while we are in darkness there should come a turning point in our regard to the balance in nature. Which reminds me, we give have Al Gore pop by and pick up his Nobel Peace Prize last week for his fight against global heating.

But still no camels...

Stick with the minced pies, Kirk!

Is the 3 Suns that Lilly refers to a different phenomena?

It is the exact same phenomena. Your sighting was at sunset, his at sunrise. Lilly's 1648 document says "parelii" which is from the Greek. These days, the scientific name is 'parhelia' which is Latin adopted from the Greek = para 'beside' and elios 'sun' .

The last line of Lilly's 3 Suns document raises questions,

At or near the apparent time of the full Moon, they vanished...

When I first read this I wondered, How close to the exact moment of the full Moon? Parelii will disappear by the time the Sun is approximately 60 degrees above the horizon, therefore sometime after sunrise and roughly before noon except in extreme latitudes where the Sun remains low in the sky. If the "apparent time of the full Moon" was in this time frame on that day, it would explain the writer's meaning.

I looked it up. And yes! - the exact full Moon occurred the morning of the parelii sighting (February 28, 1648 - julian calendar) at approximately 9:30 am. Sunrise in Lancashire England that day was approximately 6.30 am (a link would be welcome if anybody knows of one, or has Starlight software). The writer says the parellii "arose with the Sun". Therefore, the celestial sighting coincided perfectly within 3 hours of the Moon applying to full, and continued to "apparent" (within exact) full Moon. What are the chances? Deck the Halls!

Serapis is news to me - I have some reading to do... Is there any connection to Seraphim?

Christina

I made another observation of the 'V' again yesterday. We were in the car again, about 14.45 CET with a low Sun. The sun was not particularly visable. I noticed a spire reaching up into the sky. Following the spire upwards the 'V' was located at the top.

Smashing!