Enormous Red Sprites Seen From Space 30
astroengine writes: A gorgeous photo, captured from the International Space Station on the night of Aug. 10, 2015, shows an orbital view of thunderstorms over the city lights of southern Mexico as a recumbent Orion rises over Earth's limb. But wait, there's more: along the right edge of the picture a cluster of bright red and purple streamers can be seen rising above a blue-white flash of lightning: it's an enormous red sprite caught on camera! First photographed in 1989, red sprites are very brief flashes of optical activity that are associated with powerful lightning. So-called because of their elusive nature, sprites typically appear as branching red tendrils reaching up above the region of an exceptionally strong lightning flash. These electrical discharges can extend as high as 55 miles (90 kilometers) into the atmosphere, with the brightest region usually around altitudes of 40–45 miles (65–75 km). Sprites don't last very long — 3–10 milliseconds at most — and so to catch one (technically here it's a cluster of them) on camera is a real feat... or, in this case, a great surprise!
blurry (Score:4, Funny)
shoulda stopped that station and set the parking brake instead of taking picture with it moving
Hard to photograph (Score:5, Funny)
Due to their ephemeral nature, sprites are hard to capture on camera.
For comparison, here's one [digitaltrends.com] that appeared over Paris this summer.
The FSM is here (Score:5, Funny)
Run for the hills, the FSM has arrived and is hammering the world with his angry, red noodly appendages.
Re: (Score:2)
Haven't you heard? FSM lives under the sea
http://www.stuff.co.nz/oddstuf... [stuff.co.nz]
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
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I'm still trying to figure out blue...
A line from ZZ Top's "TV Dinners" might help:
"I even like the chicken if.... the sauce is not too blue."
Those sprites are eight-bit squares... (Score:2)
Thought this title was a joke (Score:5, Funny)
Wondering if I'm the only one that was thinking it was some sort of prank, that somehow we could see, say, these guys [wikimedia.org] from space?
Thin Atmosphere (Score:5, Interesting)
Did you notice the awesome shot of our atmosphere in that photo, and how thin it looks.
Reminds of this visualisation.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.... [nytimes.com]
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Did you notice the awesome shot of our atmosphere in that photo, and how thin it looks.
Reminds of this visualisation.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.... [nytimes.com]
It looks pretty thick to me. It's as big as Betelgeuse in that picture!
Aliens (Score:2)
Obviously aliens.
Re: (Score:2)
No, just a garbage pod.
VR? (Score:1)
Is this proof that our reality is virtual?
Re: (Score:2)
Is this proof that our reality is virtual?
No.
How do you prove your reality is virtual from inside the machine?
Related to gamma ray bursts? (Score:3)
Is this related to gamma ray bursts generated by strong lightning, also a recent observation?
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/uni... [nasa.gov]
sPh
Re: (Score:1)
It's an electrical connection between clouds near the surface and the edge of space. I am personally more interested in the reaction here on Slashdot than the actual photograph, because there are surely many electrical engineers and space enthusiasts who read these boards, and yet nobody asks any poignant questions about this electrical connection to space in light of the current textbook theories about li
Re: (Score:2)
I suspect the sprites might be related to the gamma rays. Don't see electrons having a long enough free path in the lower atmosphere to build up enough energy to cause pair production.
I am very convinced that the sprites are related to sporadic E skip, where ionization of the E layer of the ionosphere becomes intense to reflect VHF signals.
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
Sprite overlords (Score:1)
I, for one, welcome our space sprite overlords!
Like a cathode screen (Score:1)
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