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Olympus DSLR Challenge | all galleries >> Olympus E-SLR Challenge Galleries >> C218 "Mind Your P's and Q's!!" by Shirley >> C218 Competition > edit image
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20-SEP-2013

5th Place-Parhelion and Pillar - Brenda

A sundog or parhelion occurs when light is refracted through hexagonal plate-shaped ice crystals in the upper atmosphere, often associated with cirrus clouds. A sun pillar is caused by reflection of light from ice crystals with almost horizontal, parallel planar surfaces. I have never before seen these two phenomena in combination.

Olympus E-3
1/250s f/4.0 at 14.0mm iso100 full exif

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Michael Ramsay23-Sep-2013 17:12
This is wonderful and thanks for the description. I can remember seeing a sun dog very rarely here in England and I have never see a sun pillar. Great find
Olympus DSLR Challenge23-Sep-2013 11:29
That's a great shot, Brenda. Certainly a sunset with a difference
Barry
Shirley Haden23-Sep-2013 03:33
Fantastic capture Brenda! You must have been tickled to death when you opened this file. The colors are beautiful and I'm like you, I've seen one or the other but never the both together. Ice crystals do make for some pretty cool effects in the sky for sure. Super good shot! Hope you sent this in to your local weather station.
Brenda 23-Sep-2013 02:11
David, thanks for the suggestion. I've submitted the photo; the colours don't pop as much as I'd have liked but I think it looks OK. I've not heard of this site but will certainly keep it in mind for the future. I appreciate your having directed me to it.
David Williams23-Sep-2013 00:40
You should send this to spaceweather.com. They would be very interested in this plus they may post it on their front news page.
David Williams22-Sep-2013 23:52
Absolutely beautiful!!! Great space weather you were having.