It was a complex halo phenomenon, and was described by Georg Fehlau, the pastor of the St Marien church, in a sermon two weeks later, which was then published under the title Siebenfältiges Sonnenwunder oder sieben Nebensonnen, so in diesem 1661 Jahr den 20.
Februar neuen Stils am Sonntage Sexagesima um 11 Uhr bis nach 12 am Himmel bei uns sind gesehen worden ("Sevenfold sun miracle or seven sun dogs which were seen in our skies on Sexagesima Sunday, 20th of February of the year 1661 from 11 o'clock until after 12 o'clock") The same event was also described by the astronomer Johan Hevelius the following year in his book Mercurius in Sole visus Gedani.
On 20 February 1661 a complex halo phenomenon was observed by more than 1000 people, including Fehlau and Hevelius, both astronomers, in the city of Gdańsk on the Baltic.
[5] The translation of Fehlau's account[5] reads (notes added for clarity): We now come to the description of the recently appeared sundogs or parhelia, which had been observed a fortnight ago and which we talk of now.
Both of them had long clear and white tails, tapering like comets, one pointing to the east and the other one to the west (the ends of the parhelic circle).