2010_02-03 Helic arc sub parhelion and pillars

This was a great night as it provided us with plenty of observing possibilities. At first me and Marko Riikonen concentrated on the lamp halos in Aitoo (I shot the halos while Marko sampled the crystals) and then we were off to shoot divergent light halos in the Hervanta city.

The pillars were possibly the sharpest that I have observed. At times they exhibited staggering intensity. Furthermore, the crystal swarm was stratified into various layers and these manifested themselves as discontinuous shafts of light. Note that the pillars faithfully reflect the colour of the original light source on the ground: various bulbs give different colours.

We also observed an elliptical lunar halo twice this night but were unable to photograph it as both instances lasted about for a minute.

Note the Lowitz extensions from the parhelia as well as the Helic arc despite the lack of column crystal halo forms.
46 deg forms were non-existent
The crystal swarm changed in character and the number of random glints increased.
Lunar halo immediately after the lamp shots.
This display exhibited remarkable 3D quality as observed with the naked eye. The parhelia, parhelic circle and the CZA were all eye-connected (Tape 2009). We observed how the eye-connection of the CZA vanished as the lamp elevation was great enough. After that the CZA appeared to cascade behind our backs. Furthermore, there was an eye-connected plane that rose from the height of our waists and attached to the parhelic circle. The parhelic circle was also remarkably further away from the eye than the parhelia. As is the nature of these near field halos, their separate glints record as featureless mush on the photo.
The pillars were staggering
Note the separate layers of diamond dust in the air.
At times the pillars were super intense.
Note the transition from a well defined pillar to the diffuse top.
Various colour bulbs create pillars of many colours,