By Tim Binnall
An eerie pillar of light appeared in the sky over a Russian city this week and sparked all manner of wild theories as to what was behind the peculiar sight. The strange incident reportedly occurred on Tuesday evening in the community of Belgorod and was witnessed by multiple bewildered residents who photographed and filmed the wondrous sight. Social media in Russia was soon flooded with accounts of the strangeness unfolding over the city with many wondering what could have caused the curious scene.
Since Belgorod is a mere 25 miles from Ukraine, one theory was that the light pillar could have been a test of some kind of exotic technology. Specifically, it was suggested that the anomaly was derived from a weapon system known as Peresvet which the country has been developing for the last four years and involves using lasers to 'blind' satellites. As one might imagine, this ominous speculation was alluded to by a few Russian media outlets, though many people online expressed skepticism regarding that hypothesis.
A more likely explanation, scientists say, is that the puzzling pillar was probably just a natural occurrence of a phenomenon, which was also seen earlier this year at a ski resort in Turkey, wherein light from the sun at dusk or dawn winds up being refracted by ice crystals in the sky and, in turn, creates what appears to be a towering illuminated column. Though imagines that the Russian government would probably prefer that people think that the anomaly was a show of military strength rather than merely an optical illusion.