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A sun pillar is a perfectly straight column of golden light that can appear extending vertically above or below the Sun when it is low in the sky. For this optical effect to form, the sunlight needs to be shining through a cloud of plate-shaped ice crystals that are wobbling as they fall through the sky. The tiny plates of ice need to be rocking as they descend, like autumn leaves falling from a tree. An upper sun pillar, like this one spotted at sunset by app user ‘MeteoLaco’ over La Colilla, Ávila, Spain, can look most distinct when the Sun is just over the horizon. The sunlight is reflecting off the undersides of the tiny plates of ice. Each crystal might glint a flash of light at you momentarily when it happens to be at just the right angle to reflect it in your direction. They’re like a line of countless miniature flashbulbs, but these glitters appear collectively to us as a calm and steady pillar of light, a golden monument in the sky anticipating the arrival of the new day or commemorating the passing of the old.A sun pillar at sunset, rising through a thin layer of Cirrostratus cloud, spotted by ‘MeteoLaco’ over La Colilla, Castile and León, Spain.