February 5, 2006
Every birthday is a reminder that you are made of the same material as the stars overhead — carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, all cooked in stellar...
A Sun Pillar in Red and Violet
Birthday · February 5, 2006
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APOD published February 5, 2006. Credit: Jim Kirkpatrick & Brigitte Heiter-Kirkpatrick. A publication-date match, not a photo taken on your date. Independent of NASA.
Sometimes the unknown is beautiful. In 2000 February near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, two amateur photographers noticed an unusual red column of light rise mysteriously from a setting sun. During the next few minutes, they were able to capture the pillar and a photogenic sunset on film. Pictured above, the red column is seen above a serene Lake Tahoe and snow-capped mountains across from Lake Tahoe-Nevada State Park. The mysterious column, they learned later, is a Sun Pillar, a phenomenon where sunlight reflects off of distant falling ice crystals.
Image credit: Jim Kirkpatrick & Brigitte Heiter-Kirkpatrick