Red Sprites Observed near Coast of Turkey | Earth Science

Red Sprites Observed near Coast of Turkey | Earth Science

Photographer Tsouras Panagiotis: "Shown above are red sprites and the rising Moon as captured from Levadia, Greece on November 4, 2023. These high altitude, mysterious sprites are produced by intense thunderstorm cells. They last but a second or two and are generated at altitudes ranging from about 25-55 mi (40-89 km) above the Earth's surface, typically during the mature and decaying stages of large thunderstorm complexes. Under the most favorable conditions they may be observed every few minutes. Note that the storm responsible for this event was near coast of Turkey, more than 200-miles (322 km) east of my location in central Greece. Though they've been seen by the unaided eye, in most cases they're imaged by sensitive cameras."

Technical Details: Sony A7sii camera; 1/25 seconds exposure time; f1.4; ISO 1200.

Sometimes lightning occurs out near space. One such lightning type is red sprite lightning. It has only been photographed and studied on Earth over the past 25 years. The origins of all types of lightning remain topics for research, and scientists are still trying to figure out why red sprite lightning occurs at all. 

Research has shown that following a powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the speed of light. They are quickly followed by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. 

Red Sprites: These mysterious bursts of light in the upper atmosphere momentarily resemble gigantic jellyfish. One unusual feature of sprites is that they are relatively cold. They operate more like long fluorescent light tubes than hot compact light bulbs. In general, red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.

Image & Caption Credit: Tsouras Panagiotis  

Caption Acknowledgement: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Location: Levadia, Greece Coordinates: 38.441441, 22.981376

Release Date: Jan. 9, 2024

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