What look like light sabers or giant spotlights shooting straight up in the sky, light pillars are one of the most magnificent optical illusions.

Light pillars occur when plate-shaped ice crystals are suspended in the atmosphere close to the ground. When the light reflects off of those crystals, it creates vertical beams of light that extend above or below the light source.

A​lex Resel posted on X these incredible images of light pillars in Watertown, South Dakota on December 19, 2024.

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Light pillars are a beautiful wintertime phenomenon. Clouds don’t have to be present for them to occur, however, cold temperatures have to be in place. Light pillars usually occur when temperatures are between 15° and -40° Fahrenheit.

Light pillars can emanate from any light source, such as streetlights, headlights on a car or even the moon.

Sun Pillar

The same phenomenon can occur with the sun as the light source, called a sun pillar. This occurs as the sun is setting and the same plate-shaped ice crystals are present. The sun reflects off of the ice crystals creating beams of light. This illusion is really only possible during sunset, that’s because the sun’s light is cast upward, creating the optical illusion.

This segment originally appeared in today's edition of the Morning Brief newsletter. Sign up here to get weekday updates from The Weather Channel and our meteorologists.

J​ennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.