Light Pillar over Erupting Etna
Can a lava flow extend into the sky? No, but light from the lava flow can. One effect is something quite unusual -- a volcanic light pillar. More typically, light pillars are caused by sunlight and so appear as a bright column that extends upward above a rising or setting Sun. Alternatively, other light pillars -- some quite colorful -- have been recorded above street and house lights. This light pillar, though, was illuminated by the red light emitted by the glowing magma of an erupting volcano.
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Is this a different phenomenon than sun pillars? In those cases, I believe the cause is a particular shape of ice crystal, but perhaps in this case the geometry is caused by the fact the scattering substance is only present in that column, rather than scattering in a preferred direction.