Posted on 12/18/2012 7:03:07 PM PST by SunkenCiv
Explanation: Have you ever seen a sun pillar? When the air is cold and the Sun is rising or setting, falling ice crystals can reflect sunlight and create an unusual column of light. Ice sometimes forms flat, six-sided shaped crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. Air resistance causes these crystals to lie nearly flat much of the time as they flutter to the ground. Sunlight reflects off crystals that are properly aligned, creating the sun-pillar effect. In the above picture taken last week, a sun-pillar reflects light from a Sun setting over Östersund, Sweden.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit & Copyright: Göran Strand]
Oh boy, it's the Sun. "And now, a massage from the Swedish Prime Minister."
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Sun dogs are so cool.
I did not know that is what they are called.
Now you do.
They can take many forms.
I’ve seen them here in the south, but never this prominent.
Don’t let a cop near those sun dogs because he might try to shoot them!
Yup!
Yes, that is what ours look like in SC. Sometimes early as October.
I have seen them like that in Az even in summer.
The ice crystals are high in the atmosphere.
That is something that I have never seen before. It is a very interesting effect.
Thanks for posting!
And that was Noon, right?
For astronomy buffs, living in a cold climate certainly has its compensations. We get lots of darkness this time of year (16 hours and 5 minutes tonight where I live) and there is nothing like watching northern lights from the backyard while ice crystals hang in the air (not here in Toronto but I had that experience in a city that is a 5-hour drive north of here).
Was the picture was taken just after the 11:00am sunrise, or prior to the 1:00pm sunset?
Sunset. I just know that magically; I didn’t read the description or anything like that. ;-)
Thank you for the ping, Mr. Civilizations. Missed you yesterday, and hope that you TCB while you were gone.
LOL! I did read the description but not carefully enough. Never-the-less, my comment was more about the brief period of daylight than actual curiosity about sunrise or sunset.
[smiles] It is amazing that people even live in those latitudes where it is dark 22 hours a day at Christmas.
And yes, I figured that was the gist of your comment, but I just had to get my little dig in. That’s just my nature. [giggles]
You’re nice.
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