Strange light in the sky

[grenaby]

My husband and I were in Gloucestershire on Sunday at about 1.30pm. We noticed a patch of the sky that was pink/blue and green. It was broad daylight and a a few clouds around. The patch was not that big but I was wondering what could have caused it. It also had 4 vertical lines through it. Any ideas anyone?

[james_m246]

No NO !... there coming, SAVE YOURSELVES !!!

Ok seriously now, I don't know but its most likely the sun reflecting of something. Much like rain and rainbows.

[grenaby]

Good theory but it was about 80f at the time, no rain in the area. I must admit we first thought of a rainbow but with the heat we dismissed it. It was so spooky but a good memory for sure

[james_m246]

No I wasn't saying it was the rain I was saying it ay have been similar. Let me explain.

Basically sunlight reflects off rain making a rainbow, what you saw could have been the sunlight reflecting off something else (preferably on the ground) cause the light in a similar way.

[CT]

I think I know what you're talking about and if i'm right then a strange coincidence has occured. See here http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
Provided that you were looking in the direction of the sun then what you've seen is probably a sundog (aka parhelia). The link should explain more. On the page, click on the first highlighted 'sundog' link and '22 degree halo' for other examples of this phenomenon.

[grenaby]

Thank you all for your input. Thanks to CT especially. I have opened the link, then googled the word sundog and found a perfect example of what we saw. Now I will be looking at the sky even more than ever. Thanks again