Light pillars and sky roads

Posted .

From the archives of the lovely BLDG BLOG, I found this description of how networks of streetlights can be naturally projected into the sky, tracing out the street map in which the observer stands.

A ghostly, tungsten-yellow map of Kauttua, Eura, projected into the sky
(source)

See also: this phenomenon whereby an observes shadow is cast as a haloed ghost onto the horizon.

a ghostly image of a shadowy figure on the horizon, haloed with a rainbow