Sun Pillar in Pink

Just in case, for some odd reason, you didn't like the sun pillar in orange, I'm happy to provide you with one in pink. Yup... we had another one this morning. And I have a bit of an answer to the question about how long they last. This one, at any rate. I was getting a cup of coffee at 7:38 and looked out the kitchen window. I THOUGHT I was seeing the faint beginnings of a pillar forming, so I went and got the camera. I took my first picture at 7:39.

The first picture I'm showing you was taken at 7:41. This was the tallest that the pillar rose, just a bit over 20 degrees (as measured by two hand widths).



This is just a longer view, to put it in a bit of perspective.



By 7:46, the sun was rising, and I really wanted to show how the ball of the sun was visible above the horizon. It's there, all right, but the brightness "burned out" the lens and made those "wings" of light. And yet, the pillar was still there. In another minute, it was gone. It didn't disappear all at once, but shrunk, becoming shorter and shorter and the sun got higher.



Oddly, by 8:17, the sun had turned so cold that it looked like the moon!

See Sun Pillar from 1999 See Sun Pillar