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- Mon Jan 12, 2009 5:08 pm
- Forum: The Bridge: Discuss an Astronomy Picture of the Day
- Topic: APOD: Unusual Light Pillars Over Latvia (2009 Jan 12)
- Replies: 176
- Views: 191293
Re: Unusual Light Pillars Over Latvia (2009 January 12)
Well, ice pillars are caused by flat ice crystals dangling in the air, behaving like small mirrors. The trumpet shape can indeed be explained by the wobbling proposed by Wayne. The argument is basically statistical+geometrical. The direction in which each of the crystals points is a random vector, c...