A rising sun and two sundogs were caught on February 7, 2003,
near Park City, Utah. The sundogs appear in front of the scenery
because they are generated by tiny "diamond dust" ice crystals
in the nearby air. Tiny crystals, huge delights Ice crystals
high in the sky or down to earth give rise to gorgeous patterns
of light By Deane Morrison December 28, 2005 It was as if a
forest of light had sprung up, its innumerable thin shoots of
radiance reaching up into the dark sky. Such was the situation
in many parts of Minnesota on the evening of December 3, when
eerily beautiful pillars of light stood everywhere, like
vertical streams of aurora borealis frozen in place. But these
columns of light were no aurora borealis; rather, they were a
rare atmospheric phenomenon called ice pillars, the result of
reflections off ice crystals near the ground. They are cousins
to such striking displays as sun pillars, sundogs, and halos,
all caused by the interactions of light and microscopic ice
crystals in the air--with an occa