Mikkilä's Soul in high cloud

Hello from Japan,

On March 28, I observed an anthelic pillar while flying over Wakayama in Japan. This was unexpected, as there were no reports from the ground that day of anything other than a 22° halo. Four stacked images were created from 71 photos captured over a three-minute period.

17:29:26–17:29:35 12 frames  ave USM

17:29:39–17:29:59 10 frames

17:30:03–17:30:27 22 frames

17:30:28–17:30:53 23 frames

Aircraft altitude: 9,000 m; Sun elevation: 8.71°

At first, I thought this was a diffuse arc, but it did not match the simulation, as shown below.

As I pondered, I came to think of Mikkilä's Soul as a possible answer.

Another one was Robert Greenler’s alternative Parry orientation model. Let us consider this first, as it can be simulated easily.

An appropriately tilted alternative Parry orientation produces a pillar that is brightest at the anthelic point.  If we assume that the upper part is missing owing to the absence of cirrus clouds, this pillar appears to be consistent with the observations to some extent.

That said, this explanation is unrealistic. Assuming this is Mikkilä's Soul, I first tried to identify the diffraction fringes. However, neither B-R nor BGR showed any fringes. I also checked the single frames to rule out possible misalignment in the stacking process, but the results were the same.

 

The length of this pillar is 20° ± 1°, which raises the question of whether Mikkilä’s Soul can really be this long. The answer lies in the 2021 Åre display. If the Soul extended to the subanthelic point, it must have been at least 20° in length.

thehalovault.blogspot.com

Since there is no other plausible explanation, this can be considered to be Mikkilä's Soul. 

The Soul is virtually unknown in Japan and has never been observed there before. This could be the first observation.

 

Now then, does the Soul really shine brightest at the subanthelic point? The image below shows the moment the Soul’s brightness peaks at the subanthelic point. However, it seems even brighter somewhat below the anthelic point.

Is this simply due to the cloud’s unevenness? In the fourth image, both the subanthelic and anthelic points are clearly located within the same cloud. Further understanding of the Soul requires simulation.

 

As a side note, on August 19, 2025, I photographed a 120° subparhelion along the same flight path.

Supreme light pillars ('city maps') - 2026.5.3, AnQing, China.

 Between 23:00 and 24:00 (UTC+8) on May 3, LIU Qian Yu(刘乾煜) captured a supreme light pillars event occurring within high-level clouds(or falling virga in middle-level) in Anqing City, Anhui Province, China. The clarity of the observed 'mirrored city streets' map' is very very distinct and remarkable. JIA Hao and I consider this record to be among the most outstanding documentations of such phenomena worldwide. 

BGR+USM

As an experienced astrophotographer and member of the Chinese ice halo community, LIU promptly switched to an circular fisheye lens, thereby capturing a full view of this sky wonder. A meteorological chart corresponding to approximately three hours offset from the time of photographic observation is attached, with our appreciation extended to QIAN Kun for supplying this chart. 

Song Xi Pei contributed to the comparative works between LIU's image and maps.

I used Google Maps and Tencent Maps respectively to compare with the perspective transformed image.