What caused 'light pillars' seen in New England skies?
CONCORD, N.H. – A spectacular sight was visible in the skies over New England Saturday night.
Several people photographed "light pillars" in New Hampshire towns including Derry, Brentwood, and Exeter. The pillars were also photographed in North Andover.
They're formed when flat, hexagonal-shaped ice crystals reflect lights from the surface. The crystals are normally found in high-level clouds, but when it's very cold, they find their way closer to the ground.
WBZ-TV meteorologist Sarah Wroblewski said Saturday's conditions were perfect for the optical phenomenon.
"Ice crystals can be made up of all sorts of shapes and sizes, but those six-sided ice crystals can stack on top of each other like a dinner plate, and act like mirrors," she said. "When they are suspended above a light source near the ground like a streetlamp, the light bounces off that flat crystal and then the next one and the next one and so on, creating this narrow column of light beaming into the sky above. So while it may look like aliens are invading from the clouds, the light you see is actually coming from the ground. A pretty cool sight to see!"
