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.

Women take a photo in the late afternoon sun during the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on April 17, 2017 in Indio, California. (Photo by Carlo Allegri/Reuters)

A Hindu devotee lies on a road as she worships the Sun god during the religious festival of Chhath Puja in Kolkata, India October 26, 2017. (Photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters)

The sun rises behind The Royal Liver Building in Liverpool, Merseyside on Tuesday, January 17, 2023. (Photo by Peter Byrne/PA Images via Getty Images)

“Teenager Teenager”, an installation by the collaborative Chinese artists Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, at the exhibition “Crazy. Madness in contemporary art” in Rome on February 18, 2022. (Photo by Gloria Imbrogno/LiveMedia/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Girls make a heart sign as the sun sets over the Mediterranean Sea coastline in Beirut, Lebanon, Friday, July 14, 2023. (Photo by Hassan Ammar/AP Photo)

A tourist watches as the moon passing in front of the sun as it approaches a full solar eclipse in the northern Australian city of Cairns November 14, 2012. (Photo by Tim Wimborne/Reuters)

Brazen seagulls, pigeons and starlings bask in the afternoon sun undeterred by a plastic Owl bird scarer on the roof of Liverpool Coastguard Station at Crosby on January 13, 2012 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)