What are these things I saw on the way to work?

Question

As I was driving to work this morning I noticed these two almost rainbow-like things on the both sides of the sun. They were slightly elliptical, I think- I couldn't stare at them too long since I'd forgotten my sunglasses. Are these what people call solar flares? That sounds kind of spacey for what I'm talking about. I took some pictures with my camera phone:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/curlyace53/college/120806_08542.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/curlyace53/college/120806_08541.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v214/curlyace53/college/120806_08471.jpg

Answer 1

no. not solar flares. Its a weather phenomena. Ice crystals in the upper atmosphere.
From the weather.com website Sundogs also known as mock suns or "parhelia", are a pair of brightly colored spots, one on either side of the sun.
May not be exactly what you saw but its close.

Answer 2

Either last week or early this week there were some class X (like X-8 or X-9) solar flares erupting toward the position in our orbit where we would be in August. That would be to the left of the sun. I didn't think they would be visible to the naked eye from here, though.

Answer 3

It's not a solar flare; you can only see those with a telescope and a filter. They are called "sundogs." They happen when the sun and tiny ice crystals in the atmosphere line up just right to refract the light and it looks like a little rainbow. There's a lot more about it on Wikepedia if you're interested.

Answer 4

Halos are optical phenomena that appear near or around the Sun or Moon, and sometimes near other strong light sources such as street lights. There are many types of optical halos, but they are mostly caused by ice crystals in cold cirrus clouds located high (5-10 km, or 3-6 miles) in the upper troposphere. The particular shape and orientation of the crystals is responsible for the type of halo observed. Light is reflected and refracted by the ice crystals and may split up into colours because of dispersion, similarly to the rainbow.

Traditional farmers and sailors’ superstitions say that moon halos and sun halos portend stormy weather.

Answer 5

In Manitoba we call those "sun dogs" it is the light from the sun reflecting off of ice crystals in the sky. On a non-scientific level it basically means it's cold outside.

Answer 6

we call them sun bows the are like rain bows and some people say they are a sign of a coming storm i think you need a telescope to see solar flares and not one of those cheap ones but like an observatory's

Answer 7

Could of just been that your eyes were hydrated to well and your eyes were bending the light around. It wouldn't of been a solar flare, if you were able to see a solar flare with the naked eye we would be in some serious trouble, and if all that energy jetted towards us we'd definitely notice it.

To me they look like possible glare, rainbow, or illuminated clouds.

Answer 8

I saw them, too. really great. the old man called them sun dogs and said it meant a change in the weather. must be true, it has been hovering around 0 here and now its 30 and supposed to get warmer yet.

Answer 9

just like rainbows!!!!! ****the things you saw, that I looked at, are just ice crystals reflecting the sunlight!!!!! SOLAR FLARES WOULD NOT BE THAT FAR AWAY FROM THE SUN - YOU WOULDN't BE ABLE TO SEE THEM!!!

Answer 10

Those are called 'sun dogs'......they are a sign of bad weather. In the winter it could be a blizzard...in the summer it could mean a tornado or hurricanes. Trust me...my dad taught me about hose...and they are for real!!