# Rare Experiences **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939 "2008-10-14T19:56:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/21 "2008-10-15T20:51:55Z")
We had a stetch of vivid bright sundogs in Seattle a couple years back, much like these pics. My wife wanted my to call the university to confirm that the sun wasn’t going nova 🙂 > **[Alaska Diamond Dust Sundogs](https://atoptics.co.uk/blog/alaska-diamond-dust-sundogs/)** > > This article explores the mesmerizing Alaska Diamond Dust Sundogs, a captivating atmospheric optics phenomenon created by the interaction of sunlight with ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere. It delves into the science behind sundogs, the role... ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/22 "2008-10-16T05:38:32Z")
I’ve long speculated that there was a colony of bats near the apartment complex I live in. Finally, this fourth of July, while I was looking up for fireworks, I spotted a bat. I was able to watch it circle the courtyard for a good fifteen minutes before it finally got too dark to see. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/23 "2008-10-16T06:50:18Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I’ve long speculated that there was a colony of bats near the apartment complex I live in. Finally, this fourth of July, while I was looking up for fireworks, I spotted a bat. I was able to watch it circle the courtyard for a good fifteen minutes before it finally got too dark to see. Hee hee. You need to read this again. The bat’s color became too dark for you to see it? It got too dark out for the bat to see anything? The bat’s color became too dark for the bat to see anything? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/24 "2008-10-16T07:09:43Z")
The BWCA\* is a magical place. Twice I’ve been up there and seen Aurora Borealis so bright you could read a newspaper at midnight. One time we camped on a river just opposite of a short falls split by a large pointed boulder. The Full Moon was parked just above that point for quite a while. Now that was cool. I’ve stood beneath a pine tree less than 30 feet below the largest bald eagle I’ve ever seen. - [BWCA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWCA) = Boundary Waters Canoe Area. A 1.1 million acre wilderness in northern Minnesota on the Canadian Border. Just across the border is [Quetico Provincial Park](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetico_Provincial_Park), a 1.2 million acre wilderness area. The whole place is jammed with lakes and rivers and you generally canoe from one place to another. Hence the name. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/25 "2008-10-16T12:42:12Z")
I swam with dolphins in the Red Sea. [/coolest thing I’ve ever done.] ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/26 "2008-10-16T12:48:55Z")
I live just west of Boston, MA, and i have seen several “sundogs”. My understanding is that these are common in high latitudes (say northern Canada), but not so common down here. Anybody know? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/27 "2008-10-16T12:55:07Z")
**Redfrost** , do you wear glasses? [New Scientist article about noisy meteors](http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg16922722.900-sizzling-skies.html) - subscription required but full text reproduced [here](http://www.meteorobs.org/maillist/msg20622.html). I heard a meteor whoosh - simultaneous with what I was seeing, not delayed - when I was in Nepal. I didn’t even know such a phenomenon was alleged to exist at the time. Noone else I was with heard it, so I dismissed the whole thing as a hallucination. I was happily vindicated when I read that article, as I was the only glasses-wearer in the group. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/28 "2008-10-16T13:05:11Z")
I was in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in 1984, and saw _Discovery_ being prepped for it’s maiden flight. Alas, I didn’t get the job I was interviewing for… Last year, there was a night shuttle launch. I could see the shuttle, still in boost phase, come up from the southwest, and when it got to where it was due east of me, the engines shut down. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/29 "2008-10-16T16:02:11Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I live just west of Boston, MA, and i have seen several “sundogs”. My understanding is that these are common in high latitudes (say northern Canada), but not so common down here. > Anybody know? I see them in Florida with some regularity (usually in the winter tho). ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/30 "2008-10-16T16:31:25Z")
I recall seeing a double rainbow when I was little. This wasn’t your usual double rainbow [with both going the same direction](http://wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/double-rainbow.jpg), this one looked more like an inverted VW logo. The “V” part was directly over a road and I watched as a car drove under the “V”. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/31 "2008-10-16T16:42:52Z")
Circled by sharks at a decompression stop. I think they were Blues. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/32 "2008-10-16T18:16:41Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#): > > I recall seeing a double rainbow when I was little. This wasn’t your usual double rainbow [with both going the same direction](http://wendyusuallywanders.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/double-rainbow.jpg), this one looked more like an inverted VW logo. The “V” part was directly over a road and I watched as a car drove under the “V”. That’s an awesome picture. Having grown up on the Prairies, I’ll vouch for that extremely clear, strange yellow light quality. We get sundogs all the time here in winter, as well as rings around the sun. It usually means cold weather. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/33 "2008-10-16T20:06:30Z")
Seen Saturn’s rings, the surface of Mars, the surface of the moon, and several star clusters and nebulae through professional-grade telescopes, on a perfectly clear night from an altitude of about 7,000 feet. Later that same night saw the Milky Way, plain as day. (Grand Canyon National Park. Coolest camping trip ever.) ---
**Author:** ![Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a4c791/32.png) [@Frustrated\_Wonderer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frustrated_Wonderer)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/34 "2008-10-16T20:13:42Z")
First time ever visiting Monte Carlo in Monaco. It was nightime and we were in a bus heading from Nice (France) to Monaco. The moon was bright red and created a reflection on the ocean. It looked like a bright blue river in the middle of a navy blue sea, it was amazing to say the least. That same day after visiting the Casino, we went sight-seeing and stood next to a rail that gave a view of the whole city. About 2 minutes into the sight-seeing I saw the single most amazing fireworks exhibition I have ever seen, bright amazing colors exploding into all sorts of shapes. They were SO close, and they lasted about 30 minutes. “Why the celebration?” I asked the Tour Guide. He replied “Oh, nothing, its just the (rich) people having a party.” On the way back to Nice, I could see the pearl coast, “C” shaped shining bright like stars. And just over the mountain, I could see about 4 Royal Carribean Cruise ships that made it look like if they were small cities in the middle of the ocean. Wow. Talk about a night I will never forget. It was as if that day, they prepared it for me. Unreal. ---
**Author:** ![Redfrost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@Redfrost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redfrost)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2008, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939/35 "2008-10-16T22:47:06Z")
Nope **jjimm** , I don’t wear glasses. I have 20/15 vision. After reading the article, it could have been the trees in my development. I don’t live in a cookie cutter development. You can tell it used be a little woods where some folks cleared some trees to make room for a house. This process was repeated until you have my little development. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-experiences/467939.md?page=1)