Starship Asterisk*

ELVES Lightning over Italy

Explanation: What's that red ring in the sky? Lightning. The most commonly seen type of lightning involves flashes of bright white light between clouds. Over the past 50 years, though, other types of upper-atmospheric lightning have been confirmed, including red sprites and blue jets. Less well known and harder to photograph is a different type of upper atmospheric lightning known as ELVES. ELVES are thought to be created when an electromagnetic pulse shoots upward from charged clouds and impacts the ionosphere, causing nitrogen molecules to glow. The red ELVES ring pictured had a radius of about 350 km and was captured in late March about 100 kilometers above Ancona, Italy. Years of experience and ultra-fast photography were used to capture this ELVES -- which lasted only about 0.001 second.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

APOD Robot wrote: ↑Mon Apr 17, 2023 4:07 am The red ELVES ring pictured had a radius of about 350 km and was captured in late March about 100 kilometers above Ancona, Italy.

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 diameter, not radius.

Is Elves lightning made out of pixie dust?
Just having fun; Makes a real neat picture though!

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? ]

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