Photos of a Sun Pillar

Scott sent me these amazing photos today of a sun pillar. I had never heard of them before so was totally blown out by them. The sun pillars are those whitish looking arcs/lines in the sky. Scott assures me it is way cooler to see the real thing than look at a photo of them.

For those of us who didn't know about them here are a couple of definitions I pulled up from the web -

sun pillar [′sən ‚pil·ər]

(meteorology)

A luminous streak of light, white or slightly reddened, extending above and below the sun, most frequently observed near sunrise or sunset; it may extend to about 20° above the sun, and generally ends in a point. Also known as light pillar.

sun pillar

 

–noun Astronomy.

a halo phenomenon in which a vertical streak of light appears above and below the sun, believed to be caused by the reflection of sunlight by ice crystals with vertical axes.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

And if you are after some more indepth details (like me) check out this great link -

http://www.islandnet.com/~see/weather/eyes/pillars.htm