Comet ISON: If many people saw what I saw this morning, we may have many false reports of comet sightings. I was up at sunrise again this morning, and was greeted by layers of clouds down close to the horizon. About 10 minutes before sunrise (predicted for 7:35 a.m. here), these clouds were lit up by the Sun just below the horizon, creating a beautiful pink solar pillar:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_pillar
I saw one of these during my "dawn patrol" for Comet McNaught seven years ago, and they actually put my photograph of it on the cover of the RASC Journal. By the actual time of sunrise, the pillar had faded.
This pillar, as its name implies, was perfectly vertical, while the comet, had it been visible, would have been at a 45° angle to the horizon and off to the left of the sunrise point.
All that's left of it is that fan shape above and slightly to the right of the Sun.
Temperature = –4.3°C
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