An Israeli missile is launched from the Iron Dome missile system in response to a rocket launch from the nearby Palestinian Gaza Strip, on March 12, 2012 near Ashdod, Israel. (Photo by Uriel Sinai/Getty Images)

Thai Buddhist monks wear face shields to protect themselves from new coronavirus as they walk to collect alms from devotees in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, March 31, 2020. (Photo by Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

People work to rescue a dog from under rubble, in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Iskenderun, Turkey February 8, 2023, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. (Photo by Gurcan Ozturk via Reuters)

A Geminid meteor streaks diagonally across the sky against a field of star trails behind one of the peaks of the Seven Sisters rock formation in this long exposure early December 14, 2007 in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada. The meteor display, known as the Geminid meteor shower because it appears to radiate from near the star Castor in the constellation Gemini, is thought to be the result of debris cast off from an asteroid-like object called 3200 Phaethon. The shower is visible every December. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

A light pillar is a visual phenomenon created by the reflection of light from ice crystals with near horizontal parallel planar surfaces. The light can come from the Sun (usually at or low to the horizon) in which case the phenomenon is called a sun pillar or solar pillar. It can also come from the Moon or from terrestrial sources such as streetlights.

Thick smoke rises during an eruption from Mount Merapi, Indonesia's most active volcano, as seen from Tunggularum village in Sleman on March 11, 2023. (Photo by Devi Rahman/AFP Photo)

A model walks the runway during the Sister by Sibling show at London Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2012 at Somerset House on February 18, 2012 in London, England. (Photo by Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

The name “Aiguille du Midi” translates literally as “Needle of the Noon” or “Needle of the South”. It gets its name from its tapered form and from its position when viewed from Chamonix: it approximately indicates noon when the sun passes over its summit.