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Spectacular light pillars appear over Canada

By T.K. Randall
January 13, 2017 · Comment icon

10 comments

The light pillars were quite impressive. Image Credit: YouTube / Timmy Joe Elzinga

An unusual natural phenomenon was spotted over Ontario a week ago by YouTuber Timmy Joe Elzinga.

These fascinating vertical columns of colored light were captured on a smartphone camera at around 1:30am on January 6th after the temperature had plummeted to -18 degrees Celsius.

"It looked almost supernatural - like some kind of intergalactic wars, with beams shooting down from the sky," said Elzinga. "I was able to capture these images both because the lights were so bright and pronounced and because I'm a bit of an amateur photographer."

According to NASA, the phenomenon occurs when flat ice crystals, which typically reside high up in the Earth's atmosphere, fall down closer to the ground. When these crystals reflect the light from sources on or near the ground they produce dazzling columns known as a "light pillars".

Source: Yahoo! News | Comments (10)

Tags: Light Pillar, Canada

Recent comments on this story

#1 Posted by Buzz_Light_Year 9 years ago

I'd like to see that in person along with the Northern Lights.

#2 Posted by freetoroam 9 years ago

Ice from high altitudes explains the pillars that Elzinga saw, NASA said. During some cold, wintry nights, flat ice crystals that normally reside higher up in the atmosphere come fluttering closer to the ground, according to NASA. http://www.livescience.com/57482-light-pillars-photo-ontario.html Absolutely Stunning. They look as of they are holding the sky up. Imagine the thoughts of people who saw these kind of phenomenons years back before we had the explanations (above)...this is the kind of beauty the idea of gods are made from and I can fully understand why.

#3 Posted by Chaldon 9 years ago

I've seen those many times. Live in Siberia. ) Usually halos and ice-rainbows can be seen in the similar conditions as well. There should be some combination of the weather conditions for the phenomenon to be visible, an incompletely frozen river nearby I guess, to give a layer of moist, ice-crystal-filled air, and a quickly arrived -30 C cold for that layer to remain suspended near the ground... Actually I don't know, it's just a hypothesis... Unfortunately, I've never seen an aurora though, the latitude is not high enough I think.

#4 Posted by Socks Junior 9 years ago

Granted, Siberia is large but I think it should be possible for you to see an aurora with the right conditions. You can see them down relatively far in latitude. There are good online forecasting models for auroras, I'd check those out to pick the right nights to look. And good luck!

#5 Posted by Chaldon 9 years ago

Thanks! I didn't know the forecasts do exist, yet unfortunately I don't have enough time for checking those out on a regular basis. I'm still wondering why I've never seen any northern lights even after I've moved to the countryside and now see the night sky above me dozens of times every day all year round. It's truly weird. May be it's still about the latitude, it's only 56 N, too far from the polar circle, as well as from the ocean (if it matters). In fact, I live close to the farthest point from the ocean in the whole world.

#6 Posted by Socks Junior 9 years ago

That is odd! Especially in the countryside. I've seen photos from a friend at mid 40 latitude in the US of the aurora borealis. Hopefully your magnetic disturbance watching luck changes.

#7 Posted by IamthemanfromNantucket 9 years ago

Looks like an away team is beaming in lol

#8 Posted by switchopens 9 years ago

I see these 2 or 3 times a year where I live. Since it's dark here 3/4 of the day in the winter, it's not unusual but it's still kind of surreal and eerie, especially when the whole town is quiet at 3 am. Also, we have a lot of oil fields off in the distance that you wouldn't otherwise know was there, but this phenomena gives their positions away with large multi-coloured pillars jettisoning out from the forests.

#9 Posted by Buzz_Light_Year 9 years ago

I seen The Aurora Borealis at the 39th latitude in Illinois back in the early 80's, but it wasn't like the images I've seen of them in the northern latitudes. It consisted of a deep red blotch across the night sky and if you stared at it long enough you'd start seeing a dragon. lol. 5,000 years ago I'd been hiding in my cave from it LOL

#10 Posted by Chaldon 9 years ago

Yeah ))) But actually it's only the street lights beyond the hill. They may be quite far away, but not so far as some objects in Fata Morganas over the sea.

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