If you happened to look to the east at about 7:45 a.m. this morning you were treated to something pretty cool – a sun dog.

A sun dog is also called a ‘mock sun’, ‘phantom sun’ or ‘parhelia.’ These appear as bright spots to either side of the sun at the same distance above the horizon. They are caused by sunlight refracting through hexagonal ice crystals, usually in cirrus clouds. As the light hits the crystals, it is bent 22 degrees before reaching your eyes, thus creating the phenomena.

We took these images in north Denver.