Did You See It This Morning?!

If you were up early this morning you probably saw a pretty cool scene! If you were up before the sun rose, you probably saw something called a light pillar. If you were out just after sunrise you saw a sun halo, also known as a sun dog.

They are essentially the same thing! Light pillars happen at night or in the early morning with artificial light; street lamps, signs, and the like. When looking, you'll notice the light extending higher into the night sky. Often times people mistake them for the northern lights! You'll be able to see different colors lighting up the night sky. A sun dog isn't seen going straight up, but actually in an arc or circle around the sun.

Even though they happen at different times in the day, the same thing is happening. When we have clear skies and very cold days and nights, like the past couple of days, you get a lot of ice crystals in the atmosphere. These crystals act like a mirror, and they reflect the light, making it appear that there is a halo around the sun, or that the light is taller than it actually is.

In the winter, you are most likely to see sun halos when the sun in near the horizon; but in the summer you will notice them high in the sky on days where we have high level cirrus clouds.

It's all an optical illusion, but a pretty cool one!