sun pillar | EarthSky

Light pillars in the background with a bridge and trees in the foreground.

What is a sun pillar, or light pillar? They’re beautiful!

A sun pillar, or light pillar, is a shaft of light from the sun or other bright light source, caused by ice crystals under the right atmospheric conditions.

Sun pillar over Indiana

Charlie Winstead in southwest Indiana said, "Looked like there would be an interesting sky at sunrise, so headed out to shoot ... While en route, I noticed the sun pillar."

Sun pillar at Vancouver Island

Sun pillars happen when sunlight reflects from plate-like ice crystals, drifting through Earth's atmosphere with a horizontal orientation, gently rocking from side to side as they fall.

Sun pillar over frozen lake, Sweden

Nature photographer Jörgen Andersson posted this photo to EarthSky Facebook on January 22, 2018.

Sun pillar at Frankfort Lighthouse

You might see a sun pillar - or light pillar - extending upward (or downward) from a bright light source. They're caused by ice crystals drifting in Earth's air.

Sun pillar over England

A sun pillar, visible earlier this month before and up until dawn, from the Northumberland coast in northeast England.

Last sunset of winter sun pillar

Photographer Josh Blash caught this sun pillar last night in Hampton, New Hampshire. It's caused by ice crystals drifting in the air.

Late April sun pillar

Jesse Jackson saw this sun pillar near Tucson, Arizona. "Talk about a ray of sunshine," he said.

Light pillars over Sun Valley, Idaho

Ice crystals in the air create these beautiful, upward shafts of light.

Sun activity archive for November 2025

Sun activity archive for November 2025. A daily record of flaring, big filaments and prominences, and other sorts of activity, on our local star.

A bright sun with rays bursting through past dark trees and landscape.

Reflect Orbital says it will deliver sunlight on demand

The startup company Reflect Orbital has proposed putting hundreds of thousands of satellites with mirrors in space to illuminate areas of Earth at night.

Sun activity archive for September 2025

Sun activity archive for September 2025. A daily record of flaring, big filaments and prominences, and other sorts of activity, on our local star.

Animation of a lower portion of a brown colored sun showing black spots.

Sun activity archive for March 2025

Sun activity archive for March 2025. A daily record of flaring, big filaments and prominences, and other sorts of activity, on our local star.

Sun activity archive for January 2025

Sun activity archive for January 2025. A daily record of flaring, big filaments and prominences, and other sorts of activity, on our local star.

Composite of portions of Pillars of Creation as show by Hubble and Webb telescopes.

Pillars of Creation visualized in multiwavelength 3D

NASA has released a new 3D visualization of the Pillars of Creation using data from NASA's Hubble and James Webb space telescopes.

Spacecraft between Earth and sun, along with a swarm of asteroids, and 'radio waves' from spacecraft to Earth.

Detecting asteroids near the sun with NEOMIR

NEOMIR - an early asteroid warning system - will target asteroids near the sun. It will look for and monitor asteroids 65 feet (20 m) and larger.

Swirling, turbulent bottom edge of sun, looking like yellow clouds with rain.

The sun as you’ve never seen it

ESA's Solar Orbiter reached perihelion, its closest point to the sun, in March. Here are stunning closeup images as never seen before.

Light pillar, a moon pillar, moon dogs

For many of us in the Northern Hemisphere, it's cold! Here's a predawn sky - from Alberta, Canada, earlier this week - at least partly created by cold.

Lunar light pillar over Antarctica

We see a fair number of photos of light pillars - shafts of light extending from the sun or other bright light source - taken from northerly latitudes. This one is caused by the moon, and it's over Earth's South Pole.

Light pillars over Whitefish Bay

When there are ice crystals in the air around you, you might see light pillars. They're the result of light reflecting from the crystals suspended in the air or clouds.

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What is a sun pillar, or light pillar? They’re beautiful!

Sun pillar over Indiana

Sun pillar at Vancouver Island

Sun pillar over frozen lake, Sweden

Sun pillar at Frankfort Lighthouse

Sun pillar over England

Last sunset of winter sun pillar

Late April sun pillar

Light pillars over Sun Valley, Idaho

Sun activity archive for November 2025

Reflect Orbital says it will deliver sunlight on demand

Sun activity archive for September 2025

Sun activity archive for March 2025

Sun activity archive for January 2025

Pillars of Creation visualized in multiwavelength 3D

Detecting asteroids near the sun with NEOMIR

The sun as you’ve never seen it

Light pillar, a moon pillar, moon dogs

Lunar light pillar over Antarctica

Light pillars over Whitefish Bay