Rare light pillars illuminate skies over Russian city
Residents of Svetogorsk, a city in the Leningrad Oblast, enjoyed a rare sight of mysterious lights in the sky at the beginning of January. While these elongated formations are uncommon, their presence can be scientifically explained, as noted by the Focus service.
Photos of the mysterious light pillars surfaced on social media on January 5, according to Focus. They were shared by users, including one named astrophotoboloto, on the Telegram channel. This optical phenomenon is well-known in scientific circles, occurring in the atmosphere.
Mysterious lights over Russia
Light pillars manifest as vertical columns of light extending above or below a light source. They occur when light—whether natural, like the Sun or Moon, or artificial, like streetlights—reflects off horizontally aligned ice crystals suspended in the air.
These light pillars are most commonly observed when light falls at a low angle during sunrise or sunset. They mainly occur during cooler times of the year when ice crystals are present in the atmosphere.
Light pillars are not the only spectacular optical phenomena seen in Earth's atmosphere. Other phenomena resulting from the interaction of light with atmospheric components such as ice crystals, water droplets, or dust particles include halos, which are luminous rings around the Sun or Moon, well-known rainbows and auroras, and the Brocken specter, often seen in the mountains.
