Latvian light pillars

[Buttercup]

This pic taken by a young man in Latvia on Dec. 28. I hope it's ok to post here. I can't find anyone else having posted it already. The one linked is especially lovely:

It's a BIG image

These are "a 1st" it seems, and even the pros can't explain how they formed. More pics are available at Spaceweather.com dated Jan 2.

Truhin's pillars, however, are not the ordinary kind. Even two leading experts in atmospheric optics can't quite figure them out: "These pillars are mysterious," say Les Cowley and Marko Riikonen. "They have unexplained curved tops and even curved arcs coming from their base. Arcs in rare displays like these could be from column crystals to give parts of tangent arcs, others could be the enigmatic Moilanan arc or even the recently discovered reflected Parry arc. We do not know – so take more photos on cold nights!"

[JohnD]

I'd submit this to the APOD!
http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html (bottom of page)
With the Spaceweather reference, as Mr.Truhin must have his credit for the pic.

There are several links about similar phenomena on the Spaceweather site. www.spaceweather.com
No doubt others can add to them here.

John
Ps they must have compressed it - it's only 37kB now.

[KaiYeves]

Freaky looking. The color kind of reminds me of auroras.

[Parrothead]

Neat, they certainly do grab ones attention. I love the colours.

Before seeing this thread, I was reading an article with some pics of sundogs taken in Tartu, Estonia, this morning.

Story: http://www.ilmajaam.ee/?id=64682&redir=

[LotusExcelle]

This website: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/ has many more examples of light pillars and other atmospheric effects. I've referred to it many times over the years for the names/causes of things I've seen in the sky. (I'm in no way connected with the site - I just think its a really good site for such things)

The OP picture is really amazing. I don't think I've seen one of those in person.

[eburacum45]

I've seen a light pilar, but no arcs, They seem to be entirely novel; even Les Cowley isn't sure what has caused them.
Edit; if they are Moilanen arcs, they might be caused by artificial snow generators;
http://www.atoptics.co.uk/halo/marc.htm

[Buttercup]

My climate is far too warm for light pillars of any type. I've seen lots of pics of them via spaceweather.com and elsewhere, but the one I linked is "new" to me as well. It looks like the graceful archways of an old-world cathedral.