In late March 2026, photos and videos of glowing vertical beams lit up social media after small earthquakes shook parts of the Aegean Sea near Turkey and Greece, lasting until April 1.
Many people wondered if the shining, colourful pillars were real.
Scientists say these are earthquake lights; a rare but documented natural event.
WHAT ARE EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS?
Earthquake lights are flashes, streaks, balls, or tall pillars of light that sometimes appear in the sky right before, during, or just after an earthquake.
They can look like lightning, soft glows, or bright, iridescent columns stretching upward.
People have reported them for hundreds of years, but they are very uncommon, with only a few quakes ever producing them.
In the recent Aegean Sea tremors, the lights appeared as striking beams over coastal areas, sparking viral posts and wild guesses. Some guessed the lights as angels, some as special effects in a simulation of a world.
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND EARTHQUAKE LIGHTS?
The weird part, however, is not the phenomenon itself but our lack of complete understanding of what caused it.
The exact cause is still not fully settled, but the best explanation starts deep underground.
Earthquakes happen when huge tectonic plates push and grind against each other. This stress squeezes rocks in the crust, especially those containing quartz or certain minerals. The pressure creates electric charges inside the rocks, almost like turning on a giant natural battery.
These charges then flow upward through cracks and faults until they reach the surface. Once there, they bump into air molecules and ionise them, stripping electrons and creating glowing plasma, the same stuff that makes neon signs light up.
The result is visible flashes or steady beams with no heat or fire.
Scientists have noted that lights appear more often in places with straight, vertical faults, like rift zones, which act like easy pathways for electricity.
Lab experiments squeezing rocks have produced similar electrical effects, although more research is needed on how the light is created as the hidden energy builds up before the ground shakes under us.
Regardless, the floating lights are a fascinating reminder of the powerful forces inside our planet, not magic or anything supernatural, just nature on display.
