What are sun pillars and light-weight pillars?
Solar pillars and light-weight pillars are beams of sunshine that stretch vertically upward (or downward) from a shiny gentle supply, such because the sun or one other shiny gentle low on the horizon. They are often 5 to 10 degrees excessive and generally even greater. In truth, they may lengthen or brighten as you stare upon them.
They’re lovely and wondrous. They usually’re additionally the supply of some UFO reviews!
Solar pillars or gentle pillars kind when daylight (or one other shiny gentle supply) displays off the surfaces of tens of millions of falling ice crystals related to skinny, high-level clouds – for instance, cirrostratus clouds. The ice crystals have roughly horizontal faces. They’re falling by Earth’s environment, rocking barely back and forth.
When is the very best time to see a sun pillar or gentle pillar?
You’ll most frequently see sun pillars when the sun is low within the western sky earlier than sundown, or low within the east simply after the breaking of daybreak. Nevertheless, you may even see a sun pillar when the sun is beneath the horizon. However, you may see gentle pillars at any time of night time.
They’re known as sun pillars when the sun helps make them. However the moon and even streetlights can create this gentle phenomenon, too, by which case the title gentle pillar is extra applicable.
These pillars of sunshine typically immediate folks to report sightings of UFOs. They’ll generally look unusual! In truth, gentle pillars set off numerous UFO reviews over Niagara Falls, the place the mist from the frenzy of descending water interacts with town’s many upward going through spotlights. Mild pillars do seem steadily over Niagara Falls, particularly through the winter.
By the way in which, Les Cowley’s nice web site Atmospheric Optics is an excellent place to go and study extra about sun pillars.
Take a look at these pictures of some gentle pillars simply earlier than dawn this morning in Fraser, despatched to us from Johnny Rudell! Pillars kind as slowly falling ice crystals mirror gentle. #COwx pic.twitter.com/oGOU4NRztZ
— NWS Boulder (@NWSBoulder) December 7, 2022
Backside line: In the best circumstances, you may see vertical shafts of sunshine extending upward or downward from the sun or different shiny gentle sources. These are known as sun pillars or gentle pillars, and are brought on by gentle reflecting from hexagonal ice crystals drifting in Earth’s environment.
