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Sun pillar at Vancouver Island

Posted by in Today's Image | March 14, 2018

Sun pillars happen when sunlight reflects from plate-like ice crystals, drifting through Earth’s atmosphere with a horizontal orientation, gently rocking from side to side as they fall.

Photo taken March 12, 2018, by Wally Roth, near Lantzville, British Columbia.

Wally Roth at Sebastian Beach – about midway up Vancouver Island, in British Columbia – caught this image before sunrise Monday morning.

The vertical beam of light is called a sun pillar or light pillar. Wally wrote:

I took this image of the dawn sky a full 13 minutes before the sun peeked over the horizon.

Thanks, Wally!

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd

Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Today, she serves as Editor-in-Chief of this website. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named 3505 Byrd in her honor. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.

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