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Credit & Copyright: Mike Cohea
Explanation:
This was not a typical sun pillar.
Just after sunrise two weeks ago in
Providence,
Rhode Island,
USA, a photographer, looking out his window, was suddenly awestruck.
The astonishment was caused by a
sun pillar that
fanned out at the top.
Sun pillars, singular columns of light going up from
the Sun, are themselves rare to see, and are known to be caused by sunlight
reflecting from wobbling,
hexagon-shaped ice-disks
falling through
Earth's atmosphere.
Separately, upper
tangent arcs
are known to be caused by sunlight refracting through falling
hexagon-shaped ice-tubes.
Finding a
sun pillar connected to an
upper tangent arc is extraordinary, and, initially,
took some analysis to figure out what was going on.
A leading theory is that this
sun pillar
was also created, in a complex and unusual way, by falling ice tubes.
Few might believe that such a
rare phenomenon was seen again if it
wasn't for the quick thinking of the photographer --
and the camera on his nearby
smartphone.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: Sun Pillar
Publications with words: Sun Pillar
See also: