Sun Pillar

I was driving up to Denver from Colorado Springs this morning. Just south of Castle Rock the sun began to rise and this caught my attention so I pulled off the highway and took a few grab shots. I've never seen one of these before so it was pretty cool to see.

#1

#2

#3

That's pretty incase.. Looks like a lightsaber.

any ideas how it's made?

Josh,

"From Wikipedia,

A light pillar is a visual phenomenon created by the reflection of light from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces. The light can come from the sun (usually at or low to the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the moon or from terrestrial sources such as streetlights.[1]"

Very cool! I've never been in a position to photograph one of these, so I really appreciate this.

That is very cool, glad you were able to stop and capture this!!.

Wow, I have never seen anything like that...very interesting! And the color of it is really nice.

Sweet! I don't think I've seen one with that kind of color. Not a bad way to start off the day.

I saw the same thing down by me near Chatfield, pretty cool, wish I had a camera.

Cool shot, Scott.

've only seen one sun pillar before and that was in Churchill, Manitoba in the first week of November when I was up shooting polar bears. I took a half roll of slide film of it, I was so impressed by its brightness and color at sunset, the sight seemed to warm up the -20 F evening.

That's awesome! Thanks for stopping to take pics and sharing them.

Nice pillar, Scott--thanks for sharing!

That's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

Way cool, and nice grab shots.

Real, real nice! The first is my favorite.
I've also seen these a couple of times, and never had a camera to record them. Good for you!

Great capture. First one I've seen recorded.

I've never seen one of these before either-thanks for sharing!

Very nice. #2 tow really shows the color quite well.