Becoming Easier and Easier to Sight a Sprite

[Friends just call me Ross]

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Sprites are an exotic form of electricity that leap up from storm clouds instead of down like ordinary lightning. Although sprites have been reported for at least a century, many scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were accidentally photographed by researchers from the University of Minnesota and confirmed by video cameras onboard the space shuttle.

Smith has been chasing and photographing sprites for years in the stormy Great Plains around Oklahoma and Kansas. "This is the first time I have seen them with my unaided eyes," he says. "I believe that these were unusually bright."

His eyes registered fewer details than his camera--but he still saw plenty. "The jellyfish shapes I saw had a fiery orange/red color," he adds. "I didn't see the bottoms of the tendrils, but I had an impression of the heads and beads. Storm chasers to the west of me were also viewing with their naked eyes."

The underlying physics of sprites is still not fully understood. Some models hold that cosmic rays help them get started by creating conductive paths in the atmosphere. If cosmic rays do indeed spark sprites, now is a good time to look for them because cosmic rays are nearing a Space Age high.

spaceweather.com 

 

[Friends just call me Ross]

Side note:

Although reports of God have been around for thousands of years, many scientists do not believe He exists either.🤓

They obviously missed this class...

God 101:

Creation requires a Creator

and intelligent design requires an Intelligent Designer.

[Pjdriver]

34 minutes ago, Friends just call me Ross said:

 

I never heard of those. Thanks Ross. 

[SheyZ]

I look forward to seeing a bunch someday

 

[Friends just call me Ross]

This is one of the best photos I have ever seen of a sprite:

 

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What are lightning sprites?

Did you know that lightning sprites - like the one captured in the image above - exist above some thunderstorms?

 

Sprites aren't well known, except to meteorologists, nature photographers and others who study the skies. They aren't especially rare, but they're fleeting. They're not easy to capture on film. Lightning sprites are electrical discharges high in Earth's atmosphere.

 

They're associated with thunderstorms, but they're not born in the same clouds that send us rain. Thunderstorms - in fact all earthly weather - happen in the layer of Earth's atmosphere called the troposphere, which extends about 4 to 12 miles (about 6 to 19 km) up from Earth's surface. Lightning sprites happen in Earth's mesosphere, up to 50 miles ( 80 km) high in the sky.  EarthSky.com

 

[Beaugeste]

So many things to dazzle us and eternity to discover them!! Thank you

[Qapla]

[Old]

20 hours ago, Qapla said:

Not only photographed in a mulyipalsetting but also of the rare green type.

Edited August 19, 2020 by Old