The night sky of Russia once again struck residents with a bright atmospheric phenomenon — light pillars. This natural phenomenon was observed on December 9 by residents of St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region, Karelia, Siberia, the Urals, and the Far East. Light pillars, resembling multicolored floating crystals, vary in colors from white to pink and orange. Their intensity and shades depend on the angle of incidence of light and the state of the atmosphere.
Light pillars, also known as halos, appear due to the reflection of light from ice crystals in the atmosphere. This happens most often in winter, especially during periods of sharp cooling, when tiny flat crystals form in the air. They are arranged so that their surfaces become parallel to the ground, creating a mirror effect for reflecting light from sources located on the ground or from the low sun.
Astronomer Vladilen Sanakoev from the UrFU observatory explained that light pillars are formed at negative temperatures, when ice crystals "catch" light from lanterns, houses, and other sources, turning ordinary city lights into bright, vertical stripes stretching upwards.
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