Unknown light column appears in the night sky of Jeju Island, South Korea! Is it an alien invasion or a celestial wonder?

In the pitch-black night, colorful beams of light suddenly appeared, like sharp swords pointing to the sky, suspended vertically between heaven and earth...

The sense of science fiction is instantly maximized, right?

On October 26, an unidentified light column appeared in the night sky of Jeju Island, South Korea

Source: Internet

On October 26, several such beams appeared in Ora-dong, Jeju City, Jeju Island, South Korea, and stayed in the sky for about ten minutes before gradually dissipating. As soon as this mysterious beam appeared, it immediately attracted a large number of netizens to watch, and some even joked that it was a signal sent by aliens passing through the earth.

Faced with all kinds of strange speculations that began to "explode" on the Internet, the Jeju Meteorological Bureau also gave an official explanation. This scene, which seems like a science fiction movie, is actually formed by the reflection of the fish-attracting lights of fishing boats through high-altitude clouds. It is an atmospheric optical phenomenon called "cold night light column".

Today, I would like to talk with you about what this real "science fiction" phenomenon is all about.

1. What exactly is the lamp post on a cold night?

Light pillars are a rare ice halo phenomenon. Although they look dazzling, the principle behind them is not complicated. Simply put, it is the mirror reflection phenomenon of light, which is the same principle as when we used mirrors to reflect sunlight onto the ceiling or wall when we were children.

Specular reflection diagram

Source: wiki

When there are a large number of horizontally arranged flaky ice crystals in the atmosphere, it is like forming mirrors. Street lights, neon lights, car headlights... these originally ordinary lights are reflected by ice crystals at different heights, and finally gather to form an elongated light column, which is the lamp column we see on a cold night.

Schematic diagram of the lamp post principle on a cold night

Source: stemeducation.nd.edu

The Cold Night Light Pillars have a high ornamental value, and their beauty can be compared with that of the Aurora. Since both usually appear in the extremely cold northern regions, and the viewing conditions of the Aurora are often more demanding than those of the Cold Night Light Pillars, some people often regard the Cold Night Light Pillars as a "substitute" for the Aurora.

Cold night lamp post

Source: boredpanda.com

But from the perspective of the principles of the two, they are actually very different. Charged particles from the sun are attracted by the Earth's magnetic field and come to the sky above the two poles. They collide with microscopic particles in the atmosphere, which will trigger a large-scale natural discharge phenomenon. The energy of the charged particles is released at the moment of release, producing brilliant and dazzling energy rays, which is what people often call the aurora.

Source: pexels

Therefore, unlike the more "single" form of a light pole on a cold night, the shape of the aurora is often very different and constantly changing. In addition to being beautiful, the nature of the aurora can cause radar and communication equipment to malfunction.

2.Where did the mysterious light beam appear?

Although the principle of the lamp post on a cold night sounds very simple, in order to turn the sky into a mirror, very harsh meteorological conditions need to be met.

First, the temperature must be low enough. Lamp posts on cold nights usually appear under extremely low temperature conditions below -20°C. At the same time, the air needs to be sufficiently humid and windless , so that a large number of horizontally arranged ice crystals can be generated and retained in the atmosphere.

Based on the conditions for the formation of light poles, it is not difficult to imagine that cold night light poles mainly appear in the deep winter nights in the far north. In addition to the appearance on Jeju Island in South Korea this time, cold night light poles have also appeared in northern my country, mainly concentrated in the Inner Mongolia-Daxing'anling area. There are also astronomy enthusiasts who have discovered this magical landscape on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, proving that the unique high-cold environment of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau can also meet the conditions for the formation of cold night light poles.

Photographer Mia Heikkilä captured this image of a lamp post projecting street silhouettes over a town on a cold night in Finland in 2016.

Source: dailymail.co.uk

The lower the temperature, the more ice crystals stay in the atmosphere, and the stronger the reflection of light. Therefore, in some countries close to the Arctic Circle, the landscape of lampposts on cold nights appears more frequently and more spectacularly. Sometimes, a large number of light pillars are arranged neatly in the night sky, and even the local street map can be clearly outlined in the night sky.

It’s simply the real-life version of “Castle in the Sky”!

3. The beauty of the “light pillars” is not exclusive to cold nights!

Since the formation of ice crystals is a necessary condition for the light post phenomenon, people once believed that the light post phenomenon would not occur in tropical and subtropical regions with higher temperatures.

However, what many people do not realize is that under natural conditions there is actually an atmospheric optical phenomenon with the same basic principle as the cold night light posts - the warm night light posts .

Warm night light poles are a phenomenon that occurs in non-extremely cold areas, which is rarer than cold night light poles. On the evening of May 10, 2020, an example occurred in Xiamen, my country, when the surface temperature in Xiamen had reached 25°C.

The warm night light pole array perfectly matches the city blocks of Xiamen

Source: China National Geographic

Meteorological experts believe that the surface temperature is not the decisive factor in the formation of light pillars. At night, there is no solar radiation, and the ground is the direct heat source of the atmosphere. The high-altitude atmosphere absorbs less ground radiation and has a low temperature. When the humidity is sufficient, the conditions for the formation of ice crystals can be met.

However, the presence of ice crystals does not necessarily mean that warm night light poles will appear. In addition, several other demanding meteorological conditions must be met. First, air movement in the high altitude is often more frequent than on the ground, so the "windless" state is more rare than on the ground. Second, the night sky needs to have good permeability and there must be no obvious clouds and fog in the low altitude to meet the conditions for the formation of warm night light poles.

Finally, even if all of the above conditions are met, this rare ice crystal needs to be located near a town with sufficient light so that there is enough light to reflect.

In short, whether it is a "cold night" or a "warm night", if you want to see the lamp post phenomenon, you need "the right time, the right place, and the right people"!

Here, the editor would also like to say that if you encounter a spectacle similar to the lamp posts on a cold night again, you might as well take out your mobile phone to take a picture. After all, the world is so big that there are all kinds of wonders. Judging from the current situation, the probability of encountering a rare astronomical phenomenon is still much greater than the probability of encountering aliens!