Chasing Sprites in Electric Skies | NASA Goddard

Chasing Sprites in Electric Skies | NASA Goddard

Paul Smith is a night-sky fanatic and photographer. His obsession is sprites: immense jolts of light that flicker high above thunderstorms. Last October, he guided NASA scientist Dr. Burcu Kosar through the backroads of Oklahoma to catch one herself. Although she had studied sprites for more than 15 years, she had not yet chased one.

Read more about chasing sprites with Paul and Burcu: https://blogs.nasa.gov/sunspot/2022/10/27/the-great-sprites-chase/

Learn about NASA’s citizen science project Spritacular: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/sun/spritacular-nasa-s-new-citizen-science-project-to-capture-elusive-upper-atmospheric

Learn about the Heliophysics Big Year: https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/solar-system/sun/helio-big-year/

Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

Producer: Joy Ng (KBRwyle)

Scientist: Burcu Kosar (Catholic University of America)

Photographer: Paul Smith 

Photographer: Frankie Lucena

Photographer: Panagiotis Tsouras

Photographer: Thomas Ashcroft

Videographer: Joy Ng, Thomas Smith

Writer: Lina Tran

Image Credits: Paul Smith, Frankie Lucena, Panagiotis Tsouras, Thomas Ashcraft. 

All imagery of sprites is copyrighted and used with permission.

Duration: 8 minutes

Release Date: Oct. 27, 2022

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