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Amazing view of 3 suns in N China's sky

2013-11-01 14:50 Ecns.cn Web Editor: Yao Lan
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Three suns appear on Friday morning in the cities of Chengde in Hebei province and Chifeng of Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/CFP]

Three suns appear on Friday morning in the cities of Chengde in Hebei province and Chifeng of Inner Mongolia autonomous region. [Photo/CFP]

(ECNS) -- Residents in Weichang Manchu and Mongol autonomous county, Chengde city, Hebei province, witnessed a fantastic view of three suns in the sky on Friday morning.

The phenomenon also appeared in several other regions of Inner Mongolia and Hebei province on Friday, according to local weather bureaus.

Parhelia, or sundogs, are an atmospheric optical phenomenon caused by the refraction of sunlight by tiny ice crystals in clouds, according to a meteorologist.

As water freezes in the upper atmosphere, small, flat, six-sided ice crystals might be formed. As these crystals flutter to the ground, much time is spent with their faces flat, parallel to the ground. An observer may pass through the same plane as many of the falling ice crystals near sunrise or sunset. During this alignment, each crystal can act like a miniature lens, refracting sunlight into our view and creating phenomena like parhelia, the technical term for sundogs.

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