A street-map in the sky
Winter is unfolding around the northern hemisphere and, as temperatures drop, pillars of light are springing up from the ground. Urban lights bounce off ice crystals in the air, producing luminous columns that reach into the heavens. Such "light pillars" are a common sight around northern cities in winter. On Jan. 12th, however, Mia Heikkilä looked up from her hometown in Eura, Finland, and saw something uncommon. "There was a street map of Kauttua painted in the sky!" she says. Heikkilä took a picture of the apparition:
"It was an exact reversed light map of Kauttua, Eura, created by light pillars," Heikkilä explains. (See picture below.)
Most people see pillars from the side, when they look like luminous towers, but not Heikkilä. She was located inside a nest of pillars rising from the center of town. Looking up, she saw the tips of the pillars tracing the illuminated streets of Kauttua. In fact, the sky map was even better than the printed map Heikkilä used for comparison, because it traced the most recent changes to the cityscape. "Now I call it #LuxEura," she says.
Note: These observations were first published in Tähdet ja avaruus magazine.
Source: Spaceweather.com, January 18th, 2016.
This phenomenon must have been experienced by, let's say, neolithic hunters seeing their camp fires reflected in the heavens... Just a thought... (AMdeG)
