Take your pick but I am WAY excited about this scene this morning – a rare sun pillar. I have only seen pictures of them and could not believe it when I saw this appearing east of Denver, Colorado this morning. I didn’t have time to seek out a better foreground but am not complaining.
If you’re interested in owning one of these images, see here and here.
What causes the phenomena? According to EarthSky.org, “Sun pillars or light pillars form when sunlight (or another bright light source) reflects off the surfaces of millions of falling ice crystals associated with thin, high-level clouds, for example, cirrostratus clouds. The ice crystals have roughly horizontal faces. They are falling through Earth’s atmosphere, rocking slightly from side to side.”
