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.

In this Wednesday, September 17, 2014 photo, the sun shines over a field of sunflowers in Walkill, N.Y. (Photo by John DeSanto/AP Photo/Times Herlad-Record)

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)