Sunset Pillar Imaged at Ronse, Belgium by Michel Vandeputte. Look for pillars after sunset. Sometimes they can be seen for up to an hour slowly creeping along the horizon and always exactly above the hidden sun. The delicate and subtle ones are often the finest. They look like vertical shafts of light but they are actually the glints of untold millions of ice crystals reflecting the sun towards the eye. The crystals, flat plates and sometimes columns, are here in high clouds. In very cold weather they can be 'diamond dust' near ground level. Image ©Michel Vandeputte, shown with permission.