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What is "parhelion"

The Collaborative International Dictionary
Parhelion

Parhelion \Par*hel"ion\, n.; pl. Parhelia. [L. parelion, Gr. ?, ?; para` beside + ? the sun.] A mock sun appearing in the form of a bright light, sometimes near the sun, and tinged with colors like the rainbow, and sometimes opposite to the sun. The latter is usually called an anthelion. Often several mock suns appear at the same time. Cf. Paraselene.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
parhelion

1640s, from Greek parelion "a mock sun," from para- "beside" (see para- (1)) + helios "sun" (see sol).

Wiktionary
parhelion

n. 1 A bright spot in the sky due to the refraction of the sun’s image by ice crystals. 2 a reflection or image

WordNet
parhelion

  1. n. a bright spot on the parhelic circle; caused by diffraction by ice crystals; "two or more parhelia are usually seen at once" [syn: mock sun, sundog]

  2. [also: parhelia (pl)]

Usage examples of "parhelion".

Everywhere, it appeared, there were small and wan parhelia that mocked him above unending glacial scarps.

The parhelia had vanished, and the ice-sheet, as if by some prodigious legerdemain, had resumed its normal horizontality.

From time to time they saw strange atmospheric phe­nomena that Kyle said were common on Caledonia: vast ellipti­cal rainbows suspended above the cloud deck, brightly colored haloes and arcs drawn in the ice-haze that veiled the sun, and patches of luminescence near the solar disk called parhelia or sun dogs, which sometimes appeared to jump magically about the sky.