Light pillars

Description:

It’s always a bit surprising to see these columns of light appear out of nowhere, most often in winter. They are caused by the refraction of moonlight, or simply bright lighting (near ski resorts for example) through very fine hexagonal shaped ice crystals.

In this case, the source was unknown but the photo was taken in the middle of the night using my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra cell phone in night mode on January 8, 2023 in Sainte-Sophie, looking East. The shadow of the trees that we see on the ground is caused by the almost full Moon which was setting in the west.