The tall, multi-colored pillars that have appeared over the snow-covered Canadian province of Ontario look very much like an alien landing party descending from the sky. However, on the night of January 6, 2017, Timmy Joe Elsing observed a common earthly phenomenon called "pillars of light" (see video below).
“This was the first time I saw these rays of light from my bathroom window. I was sure it was the northern lights,”said Timmy, who had no idea that such a phenomenon exists in nature.
What explains this light presentation? On frosty winter nights, flat ice crystals fall to the ground and transform into a kind of ice fog, which takes the form of pillars of light of various thicknesses. These poles are believed to reflect ground lights or car headlights and are therefore painted in blue, green, red and white.
“The pillars themselves do not glow, the millions of crystals that are in them reflect any light rays towards your eyes or camera,” explained the nature of the light pillars, atmospheric optics expert Les Cowley.
Lights are sometimes mistaken for UFOs. They appear especially often over Niagara Falls, where the fog rising from the falling water reflects the light of city floodlights.
The lights that appeared near Timmy's house were so bright that the amateur photographer, despite the cold, immediately opened the window and quickly set up a stand of combs for the phone to get clear photos. Then he ran out into the street and took some great shots. After 45 minutes, according to an eyewitness, the lights began to dim and completely disappeared.
Voronina Svetlana