Explanation: What is that on the horizon? No, it's not an alien starship battling distant Earthlings, but rather a sun pillar. When driving across Ontario, Canada in early June, the photographer was surprised to encounter such an "eerie and beautiful" vista, and immediately took pictures. When atmospheric air is cold, ice sometimes forms flat six-sided crystals as it falls from high-level clouds. Air resistance then causes these crystals to lie nearly flat much of the time as they flutter to the ground. If viewed toward a rising or setting Sun, these flat crystals will reflect sunlight and create an unusual column of light -- a sun pillar as seen above. Such columns of light are not uncommon to see, and a retrospective of past APODs that have featured picturesque sun pillars can be found here.

Challenge: Find blogs running longer than APOD.

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Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: Sun Pillar - clouds - ice crystals - oblaka - led - kristally Publikacii so slovami: Sun Pillar - clouds - ice crystals - oblaka - led - kristally
Sm. takzhe: Volnistye oblaka nad observatoriei Las-Kampanas Grozovoe oblako nad Tehasom Raduzhnye oblaka nad Shveciei Yuvyaskulya na nebe Grozovoi vorotnik nad Viskonsinom Trubchatye oblaka nad Nebraskoi Perlamutrovye oblaka nad Laplandiei Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>