I can see ISS how many miles in your world Is that away?And this is where the distance to object reflection comes into play.
You believe you have a telescope that can see planets millions and millions or even billions of miles into a space vacuum.
You fully understand how limited your scope is when looking over Earth, over a low number of miles.
Plus if they were icicles they would look different from different parts of the world.
They don't.
Explain.
Explain the vortex too