Photo: Sun dog descends over Rankin Inlet

A spectacular sun dog hovers over a road near Rankin Inlet Feb. 14, offering a celestial target over a frozen land. Sun dogs, sometimes called “mock suns” or solar parhelia, appear as bright lights on either side of the sun when sunlight, passing through ice crystals, is refracted. Sun dogs sometimes display a reddish tint on the side facing the sun, as above, and may have bluish-white tales which stretch horizontally away from the sun. They typically appear when the sun is low in the horizon, prior to sunrise or sunset, and during the winter months. (PHOTO BY NOEL KALUDJAK)