Posted on 09/12/2022 4:07:01 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: What are those red filaments in the sky? They are a rarely seen form of lightning confirmed only about 35 years ago: red sprites. 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. The featured image was taken late last month from the Jeseniky Mountains in northern Moravia in the Czech Republic. The distance to the red sprites is about 200 kilometers. Red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.
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Very cool!
Nature’s fireworks!
I’m fairly sure that sprite lightning is what we call heat lightning that occurs mainly in the summer on humid nights.
Does not look like heat lightning I have ever seen.
I’ve only seen it on cloudy, humid nights and then it only lit up the clouds. I rarely saw the lightning itself.
Red Sprite? I may try it, so long as there is no caffiene! ///
My understanding is that “heat lightning” is just ordinary lighting but far enough away you can’t see the bolt because of the earth’s curvature, so you just see the flash reflecting in the clouds.
Never knew.
The description may also show how ball lightning forms.
Nothing mysterious about it — that is just autoignition of schlivovitz vapors.
Then again it could be celebratory fireworks for the new batch of Pilsner Urquell.
Sheesh folks, don’t be naive.
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