Sun Pillar 22/02/03 - Maarten de Vries

When I let out the dog in the early morning of 22 February in 2003, I noticed this streak of light in the sky: a pillar of light caused by the sun. I'd seen photos and read about it, but had never seen one myself before. There is a first time for everything they say. Got the camera out to capture the moment. I took quite a few shots, but the camera seemed to lack contrast in this wavelength, so I had to enhance it a bit to get the full extent of it. I could follow the pillar for about 30 degrees up the way. What causes the effect I don't know, but I assume that it is to do with ice crystals in the higher atmosphere. The photo was taken with a Fujifilm Finepix 6300. Maarten