Starship Asterisk*

Light Pillars over Whitefish Bay

Explanation: What's happening in the sky? Unusual lights appeared last week to hover above Whitefish Bay on the eastern edge of Lake Superior between the USA and Canada. Unsure of the cause, the Michigan-based astrophotographer switched camera lenses -- from fisheye to telephoto -- and soon realized he was seeing light pillars: vertical lines of light over a ground source that reflect from falling ice crystals. As the ground temperature was above freezing, the flat crystals likely melted as they approached the ground, creating a lower end to the vertical light pillars. The red ground lights originated from wind turbines on Ile Parisienne, a Canadian Island visible across the bay.

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Awesome photo. It has a sort of close encounters vibe to it too.

That's a lovely picture, startlingly divided into two parts by that horizontal cloud bank in the middle. Above it, there is a dark sky, feathery cloudlets, an amazing multitude of stars and those eerie softly colored pillars of light. Below it, the world seems more humdrum: there are few stars, there is a sense of the sky being overcast (although it isn't) and details seem to be lost in a brightening sky.

Like Bruce said in the post above mine, there is a sense of an alien encounter here. Although we are really only encountering some of the marvels of the interface between the Earth and the surrounding cosmos.

Ann

Hosts of angels from on high?

Smart as trees in Sault Saint Marie
I can speak my mother tongue
Passing laws, just because
And singing songs Of the English unsung

Well, how could you do it?
Well, how could you even try?
When you were born in the water
And you were raised up in the sky?

APOD from 2018 June 6 A Sun Pillar over Norway

Aliens! Looks like another episode for Doctor Who.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

(That was a movie that kept going nowhere for a long time - but when the spaceship finally appeared, it sure looked good!)

Ann

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 4:42 am Awesome photo. It has a sort of close encounters vibe to it too.

I had the same reaction

Ann wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 12:26 pm Close Encounters of the Third Kind!

(That was a movie that kept going nowhere for a long time - but when the spaceship finally appeared, it sure looked good!)

Ann

Ann, you captured the quintessential scene. ... and I can't argue with that synopsis ...

These are truly amazingly large and numerous light pillars!
Although Whitefish Bay is at the east end of Lake Superior, it juts down to the south; this photo was evidently taken on the west bank of the bay, and was shot looking east, toward an island out in the middle of it.

You can order these at MyPillars.com

Now even the SKY has a UPC 666!

MarkBour wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:53 pmAlthough Whitefish Bay is at the east end of Lake Superior, it juts down to the south; this photo was evidently taken on the west bank of the bay, and was shot looking east, toward an island out in the middle of it.

A little south of the island, I think. Those points of light along the thin streak of land are warning lights on a large wind farm (great place for it) just north of the Sault Ste. Marie airport on the Canadian mainland. The island has nothing equivalent on it.

Rob

rstevenson wrote: ↑Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:27 pm

MarkBour wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:53 pmAlthough Whitefish Bay is at the east end of Lake Superior, it juts down to the south; this photo was evidently taken on the west bank of the bay, and was shot looking east, toward an island out in the middle of it.

A little south of the island, I think. Those points of light along the thin streak of land are warning lights on a large wind farm (great place for it) just north of the Sault Ste. Marie airport on the Canadian mainland. The island has nothing equivalent on it.

Rob

Thank you, Rob. It shows how easily I am fooled.

(Both the photographer's own notes on the shot and the APOD caption make it seem that perhaps they too, thought the turbines were on Ile Parisienne.)

I guess those turbines are in the Prince Wind Farm located just where you said -- further east in the township of Prince, Ontario, CA -- on the Canadian mainland. The brightest source of light on the horizon would perhaps be the city glow of Sault Ste. Marie. These would be the source of the light pillars, mostly, I would guess. Whitefish Bay is only about 15-20 miles across, so this all seems reasonable.

But this makes it hard for me to interpret what one is seeing to the right in the photograph (which must be the south end of some land). The last light to the right (the southernmost) seems to be at the edge of it.

So, now I am unable to fully harmonize all of this information. I would re-draw my red arrow, but I've lost confidence in it now.

rstevenson wrote: ↑Sat Oct 27, 2018 2:27 pm

---

MarkBour wrote: ↑Mon Oct 29, 2018 10:56 pm

MarkBour wrote: ↑Wed Oct 24, 2018 3:53 pm
Although Whitefish Bay is at the east end of Lake Superior, it juts down to the south; this photo was evidently taken on the west bank of the bay, and was shot looking east, toward an island out in the middle of it.

A little south of the island, I think. Those points of light along the thin streak of land are warning lights on a large wind farm (great place for it) just north of the Sault Ste. Marie airport on the Canadian mainland. The island has nothing equivalent on it.

It shows how easily I am fooled. (Both the photographer's own notes on the shot and the APOD caption make it seem that perhaps they too, thought the turbines were on Ile Parisienne.) I guess those turbines are in the Prince Wind Farm located just where you said -- further east in the township of Prince, Ontario, CA -- on the Canadian mainland. The brightest source of light on the horizon would perhaps be the city glow of Sault Ste. Marie. These would be the source of the light pillars, mostly, I would guess. But this makes it hard for me to interpret what one is seeing to the right in the photograph (which must be the south end of some land). The last light to the right (the southernmost) seems to be at the edge of it.

What if "the brightest source of light on the horizon" perhaps would be the Ile Parisienne Light at the southern end of Ile Parisienne such that the Prince Wind Farm is being observed over and beyond Ile Parisienne looking southeast from Whitefish Point.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ile_Parisienne wrote:
<<The Ile Parisienne Light located on the southern top of the island is a critical aid to navigation on a major shipping lane in Lake Superior. The lighthouse was designated a Recognized Federal Heritage Building in 1991 and it is on the petitioned list for designation as a Heritage Lighthouse of Canada. The Ile Parisienne Conservation Reserve was created in 2001 to protect the island's pristine geology, habitat, and wildlife.>>