9/12/2002: Light pillars

[Vegeta]

Originally posted by Undertoad
They happen when the temperature is around freezing. When ice crystals form in the air as a type of light snow, they can flutter and reflect light only at certain angles. The light being reflected here is from an ice-skating complex in Anchorage.

Oooh, does diffraction play a part here? Or do each of those pillars correspond to evenly-spaced lights around the skating complex?

Good ol' college physics class. Bad ol' memory.