Although they look like rays from an alien spacecraft, the columns of light are definitely from our world. Columns of light are called the weather phenomenon, which are narrow bands of light that seem to stretch from sky to earth. They are most often observed in the far north closer to the Arctic. But thanks to the cold weather that the US is experiencing, the light pillars were spotted in the far south last week in Ohio.
Pillars of light or sun are so rare below extreme northern latitudes that they have been mistaken for UFOs in the past.
Photographer Mike Wilhaber snapped photographs showing dozens of bluish-white rays stretching across the horizon. According to Atmospheric Optics, an optical illusion is formed when cold winter air allows millions of flat ice crystals to sink below. When the light from the street lamps touches the crystals, it creates the appearance of thin long pillars.
Although the pillars of light appear white in Vilhaber's photograph, they can take on any hue depending on the light source. The light poles that form above the street lamps are often colored orange.
The pillars of light are best seen at night, but the Ohio case isn't the only one where beams suddenly appeared in the sky. When light from a rising or setting sun touches ice crystals, it creates a phenomenon known as pillars of the sun. Columns of light are often tinged with the pinkish red and orange hues of the Sun.
Pillars of light, as seen in Ohio, are mostly seen at the neutral point between the light source and the eyewitness. When the crystals are higher in the atmosphere or the light source is closer, the pillars appear to be positioned directly overhead, like an atmospheric chandelier.
Low hanging ice crystals create a range of other strange atmospheric sights such as parghelia or solar halo.