Posted on 10/15/2014 5:47:28 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What causes sprite lightning? Mysterious bursts of light in the sky that momentarily resemble gigantic jellyfish have been recorded for over 25 years, but their root cause remains unknown. Some thunderstorms have them -- most don't. Recently, however, high speed videos are better detailing how sprites actually develop. The featured video is fast enough -- at about 10,000 frames per second -- to time-resolve several sprite "bombs" dropping and developing into the multi-pronged streamers that appear on still images. Unfortunately, the visual clues provided by these videos do not fully resolve the sprite origins mystery. They do indicate to some researchers, though, that sprites are more likely to occur when plasma irregularities exist in the upper atmosphere.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Video Credit: H. H. C. Stenbaek-Nielsen (U. Alaska, Fairbanks), DARPA, NSF]
Thank you for posting this APOD video.
I watched this two nights ago, over, and over, and over, and over.
Elves dropping plasma balls that turn into arcs of electricity when hitting a change in atmosphere.
Them more we learn about the Earth, the more amazing it is.
Cool, thanks.
They look strange to us because they are rare, but they are just a different variety of plasma discharge. Depending on the temperature and energy level of the plasma, electrical discharges will take different forms. Actually, the plasma itself will undergo several “phases” as well, and one of these, the “glow” phase is manifested in the atmosphere in the form of the aurora.
People had been reporting these for years, but no scientist believed it until the phenomenon had been captured with high-speed cameras. A few very skilled amateurs knowing where to look with good SLR’s have recorded them. Another thing that was thought to be impossible were flashes on the moon reported visually by observers for years. These have now been recorded be camera and I believe that new craters have been found.
That looks more like some sort of gas igniting after being struck by lightning.
There is a fringe theory that some of the craters we see on the moon and other planets are not actually impact craters, but are produced by high energy electrical arcs, so that would be interesting if they found new craters that corresponded to those flashes.
Here’s an old video demonstrating how electric discharges can form similar crater shapes to some that we see on other planets:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2-NShfWUpc
Thank you, Mr. Civilizations.
Betcha can’t watch it just once!
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