I was treated to a spectacular sun pilar at sunset this evening and managed to snap this photo.
It was a spectacular sight and lasted for well over ten minutes.
This image is straight out of the camera, just cropped and saved as jpg for the forum.
Sun Pilars
Wikipedia defines them as follows:
"Hexagonal plate- and column-shaped ice crystals cause the phenomenon. Plate crystals generally cause pillars only when the sun is within 6 degrees of the horizon, or below it; column crystals can cause a pillar when the sun is as high as 20 degrees above the horizon. The crystals tend to orient themselves near-horizontally as they fall or float through the air, and the width and visibility of a sun pillar depends on crystal alignment."