Also from the early-morning beat, the photos and report were sent by Trileigh Tucker:
When I woke up this morning and wandered into our kitchen to make tea, I looked out the window to see if there were any stars—and saw this unusual display to the west! These are “light pillars,” and form when the atmosphere is cold enough that any moisture in the air freezes into flakes. Since “flakes float flat,” they act as little mirrors that bounce surface light to our eyes, which we perceive as vertical pillars. Wikipedia does a good job of explaining them.
I think this is the first time I’ve found them “in the wild”! It was a pretty exciting way to start my day, science/nature nerd that I am.
The first photo shows them as I saw them (the plane flying past them helped the camera to focus in the dark), and the second (one was) automatically lightened by my phone and shows more detail.
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