the.com/parhelion

means A bright, often rainbow-tinged spot of light that appears beside the real sun, caused by sunlight refracting through flat, plate-shaped ice crystals drifting in high, cold clouds — popularly called a sundog.

from From Greek 'parēlion,' stitched together from 'para' (beside) and 'hēlios' (sun) — literally 'beside the sun.' The Greeks and Romans both recorded these eerie twin suns, and the phenomenon shows up in ancient accounts as an omen or portent. The folk name 'sundog' is younger and murkier in origin — nobody is certain why dogs got dragged into it, though one guess ties it to old associations between dogs and loyal, trotting companions (as the bright spots seem to accompany the sun like faithful hounds). The Greek-rooted 'parhelion' remains the sober, scientific name for the same trick of light.