Back in June 2021, Allison Cooper (Member 63,380) rose at 4:00 am to drive from Brooklyn to Jamaica Bay, New York, US to watch the rise of a partially eclipsed Sun. ‘I was nervous that the heavily clouded sky would obstruct the very brief window of opportunity to view this eclipse,’ she told us. ‘So it was a thrilling moment when the clouds parted just enough, at just the right time, to see the eclipsed Sun appear.’ As if a partial solar eclipse wasn’t enough, Allison also spotted a halo phenomenon known as a sun pillar.

This vertical shaft of light was caused by sunlight reflecting off the undersides of ice crystals in the Cirrostratus fibratus clouds above those dark Stratocumulus on the horizon. And if you look closely at Allison’s Sun, you will see why an eclipse of this nature is known as a ‘devil’s horns eclipse’.