Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to For R L: Refraction at 3mm

Re: The only significant sun pillar I've ever seen
Success_Machine — (archived)

It occurred in early May, very early in the morning. The sun was rising at the end of the lake into a clear sky. Just as it was clearing the trees it formed an intense and dazzling beam of light like the one shown here:

http://www.genesismission.org/product/genesis_kids/ropingrainbows/Pillar.GIF


The beam grew very fast into a cone that was wider at the top. The effects of the treeline and the motion of the Sun as it moved upward shot lines of orange light through the light pillar that danced and shimmered. My memory of the light pillar was quite easily more intense, more sharply defined, and more dynamic than that shown here:

http://www.weather-photography.com/Guest/Photos/bt_sun_pillar1.jpg


I was so dazzled that I woke up before sunrise for days so I could see it again, but I never did. I attributed the phenomenon therefore to the Sun's position, as it rose in the morning, between two distant trees, which could only occur at most twice a year. I've never seen another sun pillar worth mentioning. In fact most of the photos you've provided are hardly even sunbeams, let alone sun pillars. Just that first photo above is the only one that triggers any recognition.

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