This is not a big deal when it comes to the equipment I used, but it's a neat effect you don't see very often (never before, in my case).

I was driving home just at sunset when I saw a solar pillar. I raced home and took a picture with a simple digital camera--the intensity of the pillar had diminished by half by the time I took this pic. The contrail makes an interesting but ultimately distracting hockey stick effect.

The internet tells me that solar pillars are formed when the sun's rays bounce off of water vapor in the air. Sunbeams that would normally pass over my head are reflected downward into my eye. This is the same process of looking at the moon over a large body of water in which a moonlit pathway points directly toward you across the water.

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Nice.

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009

Very nice Solar Pillar, Where are you located?

Texas, ten miles east of Dallas.

Thanks Jamesabrown for the info and Congrats getting your image posted in Universe Today. Clear Skies

Umm . . . wow. I had no idea until you mentioned it, but there it is. Wow. I'm a published photographer.

(And to think, I've been sitting on that picture for six months because I didn't think it was cool enough for Prime Time. It's not half as bright as it was when I first spotted it, and I hate the contrail.)

wow, fine photo taken by you, I think that rocket left some smoke which sun make it "golden" later. fine concept of image taking, it shows clearly that "you are really innovative person".

sunil

Neat pic!

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I am Mugs, of the Alien clan of Usa, Nordamerica, a Terran, of Sol.

It's been a long, long time since I visited.... and even forgot my password and who I am.
I love photos, so this is the forum where I looked first.
I have a semi-recent sun pillar photo also, tho much less dramatic.
I was working at a beach cabin for two weeks installing floor covering....... and stayed there to make the job proceed faster. (lucky schmuck me )

Like you, I caught it too late. I was exiting the grocery store a few miles away with my evening 'dinner'. As I walked out of the store to drive back to the cabin, there was this magnificent pillar shooting high into the sky........ by the time I got back down to the cabin and set ip the camera, it had diminished greatly.............. still a rare and cool sight here..... but I would have gladly given up dinner for going back in time 15 minutes to capture it's full glory. I had never seen anything even slightly close to it.

Very nice shot James, especially with the fantastic brighness of the contrail and it's intersection point.
My digital died, so I have to use a 35mm and a rather spendy photo to CD from Kodak.

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fogged in
From the sunny and warm, Oregon coast.