The bright streak extending straight up from the rising sun tells us that something in the atmosphere knows the vertical direction, with pretty good accuracy. Small chips of ice, very thin, condense out of the high atmosphere in the right (cold) conditions, then drift down. On average, they drift so they are parallel to the earth, like a falling leaf. Sunlight reflects off of these falling plates to our eye, showing up as a vertical shaft. This sun pillar was much more evident a few seconds before I snapped this image. 3/26/2012, 7:03 am.