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.

Indigenous Sahrawi girls play on an improvised see-saw at a refugee camp of Boudjdour in Tindouf, southern Algeria March 3, 2016. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is scheduled to visit the Sahrawi refugees in south-west Algeria's Tindouf region. (Photo by Zohra Bensemra/Reuters)

A partial solar eclipse is seen in a break in the clouds during rush hour in downtown Wichita Kan., Thursday, October 23, 2014. A partial eclipse occurs when the moon covers a portion of the sun as seen from the Earth. (AP Photo/The Wichita Eagle, Travis Heying)

Residents push a makeshift raft loaded with a motorcycle through floodwaters brought about by heavy rains in Propseridad town, Agusan del Sur province on southern Mindanao island on February 1, 2024. Floods and landslides triggered by torrential rain have killed six people in the Philippines, with one other person missing, rescuers said February 1. (Photo by Erwin Mascarinas/AFP Photo)

Revellers battled against 40mph winds and driving rain to get to nightclubs in Birmingham city centre on September 21, 2025. The Met Office released a yellow weather warning for strong wind and heavy rain overnight across much of England and Wales. The partygoers used their coats and umbrellas to shelter from the barmy conditions. (Photo by British News and Media/Alamy Live News)

Dog puppy “Sandy” protects against the rain with an umbrella fixed on her leash during a stroll in Rust, southern Germany, on May 26, 2013. (Photo by Patrick Seeger/AFP Photo)

A man walks past an overturned car in the street that was damaged in flooding caused by torrential rain in Cannes, France, October 4, 2015. (Photo by Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

A Palestinian man reacts after his house was flooded by rain water in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, November 9, 2015. (Photo by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters)