People are seen near a Christmas decoration installed on city Square for the upcoming New Year and Christmas season in Skopje, Macedonia December 23, 2016. (Photo by Ognen Teofilvovski/Reuters)

View of a light show on the city's iconic Arc de Triomphe monument during the New Year celebration in Paris, France, December 31, 2016. (Photo by Jacky Naegelen/Reuters)

A man flies a kite made of 110 Tukkal or paper lanterns for the Hindu festival of “Makar Sankranti”, which marks the start of spring, in Ahmedabad January 13, 2011. (Photo by Amit Dave/Reuters)

The Northern lights made an appearance just after midnight on Wednesday over Sycamore Gap in Northumberland, North East England on September 13, 2023, with the aurora pillars visible. (Photo by Ian Sproat/Picture Exclusive)

Palestinians walk on a road during a power cut in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip January 11, 2017. (Photo by Mohammed Salem/Reuters)

A man poses standing on a rock looking at the aurora borealis, or northern lights, illuminating the night sky at Embleton Bay in Northumberland, England, on February 27, 2014. The northern lights is a fantastical natural light display with fast moving light effects caused by particles charged by the sun colliding with particles in Earth's upper atmosphere. (Photo by Tom White/PA Wire)

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.