A rare natural light phenomenon was captured in Ontario's skies (PHOTOS)
Incredible images have surfaced from Northern Ontario.
A resident of the area captured what appeared to be a colourful light show last week.
“I live in Northern Ontario, and I’ve never seen this before in my life,” said Timmy Joe in his YouTube video. Awoken by his son at 1:30 am, Joe said he saw crazy light beams which he thought was the Northern Lights. It was a clear night, and Joe described the light beams as “shimmering and moving.”
The video, recorded on a cellphone in -18 degree weather, clearly shows the light beams.
Joe describes the lights as “light pillars.”
The Light Pillars in Northern Ontario were captured by Timmy Joe
“It was so cold last night that moisture froze so fast, that it was little molecules thick. So it was able to stay stationary in the air and afloat about rather than going up and forming a cloud or coming down as snow,” he said. “What it did is it created these perfect little vessels for light to shoot straight up into the sky as a light pillar.
And the images were stunning.
These incredible images were caught by Timmy Joe in Northern Ontario
According to an old post by National Geographic, “Light pillars appear when artificial light or natural light bounces off the facets of flat ice crystals wafting relatively close to the ground. When the light source is close to the ground, the light pillar appears above the floating crystals. When the light comes from the sun or moon, the light pillar can appear beneath them, too, as the light refracts through the crystals.”
And there you have it.
So besides checking out the Northern Lights, another life goal is to see these light pillars next time you travel up north.
Check out Timmy Joe’s full video below.
See also
Follow Channels and Categories