An Austrian skier witnessed an unusual atmospheric phenomenon called “sun candle”, which appears to be far from reality. A video of the rare sight captured by him has gone viral on social media.

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The rare sight happened in Austria on a ski slope at the SkiWelt Wilder Kaiser, Brixental. The video was captured by Lenka Lanč on December 10, 2024.

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The video was shared by ViralHog, where the skier described the moment as “breathtaking”. 

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“It was fascinating, breathtaking. I have never seen anything like it in my life,” he told ViralHog. “I wanted to drive through that light, but .... What if it was really an entrance to another dimension or to parallel Universe? It was an experience of my life.”

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In the video, a large and bright beam of light can be seen in a shape similar to a candle flame as the sun can be seen above the clouds while skiers can be seen skiing around the area.

What is ‘sun candle’?

The “sun candle” or the subsun phenomenon occurs when sunlight interacts with tiny, flat ice crystals in the atmosphere, typically in cirrus clouds or ice fog. Each ice flake acts as a tiny mirror, creating an optical illusion. It is often visible from high altitudes such as airplanes or mountain peaks

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For this to happen, the conditions have to be perfect. The sunlight has to be reflected at the right angle by the crystals to form a vertical beam of light. This rare optical illusion is similar to sun pillars. It is most visible during sunrise or sunset right below the sun when it is low on the horizon.

Viral on social media

The video quickly went viral and has been reshared several times on social media as people describe how amazed they are to see the video.

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“This looks awesomely supernatural!” said a user on Instagram. Another wrote, “Nature is so magical.” A third said, “A glitch in the matrix.”

While some others joked, saying “It's a portal, enter it!” and “I would have jumped through it.”

(With inputs from agencies)