Go Tripping: The Worlds Wildest Optical Illusions

Would you believe it if we told you that you can see colorful sheets of light transforming the endless winter nights into natural lava-lamps or a green spot or a green ray will shoot out of the sun? Could you believe your eyes? When it comes to these head-twisters, chances are that you can't. So tag along on a globe tour of, "did you just see what I just saw? 's

Sun dogs, Timbuktu, Mali

A sun dog is an effect seen around the sun. It looks like dazzling spots of light (or 'mock suns') sitting on either side of the sun itself and can last for hours. Seen as an omen of bad times earlier, it would seem a lot less threatening if you knew that it was innocent ice crystals making prisms in the air. The best time of seeing one would be when the horizon is flat. Timbuktu's baked-sand vistas and ancient mud temples make for the perfect backdrop.