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 Femen activist, Sarah Constantin, is hanged from a noose-like rope from a Paris bridge to call attention to the large number of executions in Iran as she stages a protest against visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Paris, Thursday, January 28, 2016. A near-naked woman hanging from a noose-like rope from a Paris bridge has sent a message to visiting Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. (Photo by Zacharie Scheurer/AP Photo)

A handout photo made available by the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities shows the Soyuz-2.1b launch vehicle with the OneWeb communication satellites launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, 07 February 2020. Thirty-four satellites from OneWeb were successfully put into orbit on a single Soyuz rocket from Baikonur. (Photo by Roscosmos/EPA/EFE)

The northern lights as seen from from Yell in the Shetland Islands, Scotland on January 15, 2023. The aurora borealis is caused by collisions between electrically charged particles released from the sun that enter the Earth’s atmosphere and collide with gases such as oxygen and nitrogen. (Photo by Ryan Nisbet/Capture Media Agency)

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)