The family -- including the cat -- were hooked by the light pillars from 5am until around 6.30am, taking photos of the phenomena – images which have since gone viral on social media in Sweden.

Light pillars appearing in the sky early Tuesday morning in Kansas City were caused by tiny ice crystals suspended in the atmosphere, and are a product of the recent winter storm.

These condition requirements are why light pillars are more frequently seen in colder regions, like Canada or Alaska. However, the pillars are occasionally seen in a wide range of places, from ...

You can see the light in the video above from KHOU11. While some have had some interesting theories as to what the mysterious beam of light is, many have attributed the red flare to a light pillar.

Usually, light pillars are only seen in far northern parts of the earth, particularly areas close to the Arctic. They are so rarely seen in the U.S. that they have even been reported as UFO ...

The source of light pillars — stray "light pollution" that robs us of the chance to see the night sky.