Light Pillars at the Tau Herculid Meteor Shower
Taken by Bob Beal on May 31, 2022 @ New Harmony, Utah, USA
Click photo for larger image
  Camera Used: Panasonic DMC-GX8
Exposure Time: 600/10
Aperture: f/2.0
ISO: 1600
Date Taken: 2022:06:04 18:30:35
 
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Details:
During a lull in the meteor shower I noticed strangely bright and colorless isolated vertical clouds to the north. Other people we were with ignored them--as long as the blobs stayed in the north with the other clouds they wouldn't interfere with meteor watching. Still, it piqued my curiosity. I turned one of my cameras on them and--lo and behold!--they were light pillars from ground lights somewhere beyond the mountains!

I thought our latitude in Utah was too far south to see this type of phenomenon, much less in May, practically June; temps were in the mid-40's (not exactly freezing--but this is at ground level); and the blobs seemed to float apart from other clouds. Visually they were vertical, formless, colorless blobs--only the camera could see the colors and the striations/pillars.

#1: Simulation of the visual view (in B&W with cloud details suppressed)
#2: The actual photo

Photo data:
Panasonic GX8, Lumix 20mm, (f/2, 60 sec, ISO 1600)

Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
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