A vocabulary of landscape — a landscape of words
975 entries
light pillar
A vertical column of light extending above or below the sun, moon, or streetlight, caused by reflection off the flat faces of ice crystals drifting horizontally in calm, cold air. The pillar is not a beam — it’s an illusion made by millions of tiny mirrors, each reflecting the light source at a slightly different altitude.
Etymology
“Light” from Old English “leoht”; “pillar” from Old French “piler,” from Latin “pila” (pillar, pier).