These mysterious light pillars surprised Malaysian photographers out on a trek

This brilliant display of lights looks like it came from the North Pole, but it was actually shot in Malaysia.

Last Thursday, a group of photographers were out on a trek to capture shots of the Milky Way, when they were surprised by these light pillars.

The multicoloured light pillars are a natural phenomenon that occurs when light reflects off the mirror-like surfaces of ice crystals. They are usually found in the polar regions, but have appeared at lower latitudes before.

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Photographer Andrew Tan, was with a group of 11 at the northernmost tip of Sabah, Borneo.

He told Mashable he only realised the light pillars were in the picture when he checked his camera later.

He used a 30-second long exposure to capture the phenomenon, and it picked up the colours of the light pillars.

"It was magnificent," Tan told Malaysian paper The Star. "It is definitely a moment to treasure in our lives."

Astrophotographer Christianto Mogolid, a native of Sabah, was with the group when the phenomenon occurred.

He told Mashable that he had witnessed light pillars in Sabah before, but didn't realise it would happen that evening. "It was pure luck to encounter such [a] rare phenomenon," he said.

Light pillars occur when the source of the light -- either the sun, or the moon -- are near the horizon. The lights tend to take on the colour of the light source.

Sabah, a state in eastern Malaysia, has reportedly witnessed light pillars in both 2006 and 2015.

UPDATE: June 28, 2017, 10:30 a.m. SGT This story previously noted that Andrew Tan was with a group of 5, and that Mogolid wasn't with him. Tan was with 11 people, of which Mogolid was one. The story has been updated to reflect this.