Light pillars have been spotted across Texas.<\/p>\n
DALLAS \u2014 Many people across Texas have taken to social media, posting stunning images of pillars of light in the past couple of days. No, it is not a camera setting issue; it is an optical phenomenon!\u00a0<\/p>\n
This sight is a bit more rare in Texas since winter weather is not a common occurrence. \u00a0<\/p>\n
\nWhat are they? <\/p>\n
Light pillars are tall, vertical columns of light extending above a light source (like a street light). They are created when light reflects off ice crystals suspended in freezing, calm air. This is more common in colder climates with streetlights.\u00a0<\/p>\n
These pillars are not actual beams of light, but rather an illusion. They typically occur during cold, calm, and clear winter nights, although some have been seen under a cloudy sky. Some can take on different colors depending on the light source. For example, if a light gives off an orange hue, it is likely that the light pillar will also appear orange.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There are other types of light pillars. Sun pillars are formed by sunlight during sunrise and sunset. Moon pillars are similar to sun pillars, but are instead formed by moonlight. Light pillars (like the ones spotted in Texas this weekend) come from a man-made light source.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Light pillars have been spotted across Texas. DALLAS \u2014 Many people across Texas have taken to social media,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":542704,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5135],"tags":[5229,1596,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-542703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-america","tag-dallas","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115958057874958347","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542703\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542704"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}