distant-traveller:

Colorful light pillars

How can an aurora appear so near the ground? Pictured above are not aurora but nearby light pillars, a local phenomenon that can appear as a distant one. In most places on Earth, a lucky viewer can see a Sun-pillar, a column of light appearing to extend up from the Sun caused by flat fluttering ice-crystals reflecting sunlight from the upper atmosphere. Usually these ice crystals evaporate before reaching the ground. During freezing temperatures, however, flat fluttering ice crystals may form near the ground in a form of light snow, sometimes known as a crystal fog. These ice crystals may then reflect ground lights in columns not unlike a Sun-pillar. In the above picture, the colorful lights causing the light pillars surround a ice-skating rink in Fairbanks, Alaska.

Image credit: Walter Tape (Alaska Fairbanks), Figure 8-1, Atmospheric Halos

Posted on March 5, 2013

Reblogged from: Voyage into Space

Notes: 524 notes

Tags: light pillars,sun,ice crystals,sunlight,space,apod,Astronomy,


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