Starship Asterisk*

Kudos to Binotto for the patience and commitment to finally get this recorded!!

Nice. Based on the various whimsical names for these rare TLEs (transient luminous events), I'm waiting for ORCs, ENTs, and HOBBITs, to be christened next. [ BTW, is it only me who is no longer getting email notifications? ]

[attachment=0]Elves_Binotto_1080.jpg[/attachment]
Is Elves lightning made out of pixie dust? :mrgreen:
Just having fun; Makes a real neat picture though!

[quote="APOD Robot" post_id=330429 time=1681704455 user_id=128559]
The [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning#/media/File:ELVES_photo_by_Valter_Binotto_27-Mar-2023.jpg]red ELVES ring[/url] [url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CqpwfZct3Lg/]pictured[/url] had a radius of about 350 km and was captured in late March about 100 kilometers above [url=https://youtu.be/LLad_K1hGIg]Ancona[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy]Italy[/url].
[/quote]

I immediately noticed that the geometry doesn’t work out, so I checked the Wikipedia link. It says that the ring is 360 km in [i]diameter,[/i] not radius.

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230417.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_230417.jpg[/img] [size=150]ELVES Lightning over Italy[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] What's that red ring in the sky? Lightning. The most commonly seen type of [url=https://www.lightningmaps.org/]lightning[/url] involves flashes of [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210524.html]bright white light[/url] between clouds. Over the past 50 years, though, other [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning#/media/File:Lightning_sprites.jpg]types of upper-atmospheric lightning[/url] have been confirmed, including [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210330.html]red sprites[/url] and [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap160823.html]blue jets[/url]. Less well known and harder to photograph is a different type of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning]upper atmospheric lightning[/url] known as ELVES. [url=https://malevus.com/elves/]ELVES[/url] are thought to be created when an [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse]electromagnetic pulse[/url] shoots upward from charged clouds and impacts the [url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/1127/10-things-to-know-about-the-ionosphere/]ionosphere[/url], causing [url=https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2491/10-interesting-things-about-air/]nitrogen[/url] molecules to glow. The [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning#/media/File:ELVES_photo_by_Valter_Binotto_27-Mar-2023.jpg]red ELVES ring[/url] [url=https://www.instagram.com/p/CqpwfZct3Lg/]pictured[/url] had a radius of about 350 km and was captured in late March about 100 kilometers above [url=https://youtu.be/LLad_K1hGIg]Ancona[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italy]Italy[/url]. Years of experience and ultra-fast photography were used to capture this [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmospheric_lightning#Elves]ELVES[/url] -- which lasted [url=https://media.istockphoto.com/id/453035943/photo/dog-using-computer.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=XYS1h9jwgZmlELdbcBSLyHT1Au1Tx-WXxRJZSXOIE_E=]only[/url] about 0.001 second.


[table][tr][td=left][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230416][b]<< Previous APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=center][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=0417][b]This Day in APOD[/b][/url][/td] [td=right][url=https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230418][b]Next APOD >>[/b][/url][/td][/tr][/table]