A light pillar is a light phenomenon in the atmosphere and belongs to the halo phenomena. Starting from the Sun, a linearly extended narrow beam of light extends vertically upwards - more rarely also downwards.
When the Sun is near or even below the horizon, sun or solar pillars are formed by the reflection of sunlight on hexagonal ice plates, which sink slowly in almost no wind and align themselves preferably horizontally in the air. Each plate acts like a tiny mirror reflecting the Sun, which is appropriately located below it. The presence of plates at different heights causes the reflection to extend vertically to form a column. In very rare cases and with very constant and low air movement, slightly curved light pillars are also possible.
We witnessed this rarely observed atmospheric light phenomenon on the eve of the expected
Tau Herculid activity maximum we had been waiting for.
All images were taken with a smartphone without further processing.
Thank you for watching. Stay well!
BTW: The cone-shaped plant is a so-called
Tajinaste (also Taginaste), endemic to the Canary Islands (cf. rev
D &
E).
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