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 the atmosphere 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.
