Sprite (lightning) - Wikipedia
Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electric discharges that occur in the mesosphere, high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. They are usually triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground.
What are lightning sprites? How to photograph them - EarthSky
Jul 22, 2023 · Lightning sprites are electrical discharges high in Earth’s atmosphere. They’re associated with thunderstorms, but they’re not born in the same clouds that send us rain.
Elves, Sprites & Blue Jets: Earth's Weirdest Lightning
Jan 21, 2014 · Lightning isn't just the stuff that zips from cloud to ground during a thunderstorm — there are many strange and mysterious types of lightning, from red sprites and elves high in the sky to...
Sprites, Camera, Action! - NASA Earth Observatory
Oct 5, 2024 · Sprites—an atmospheric phenomenon associated with powerful lightning events—occur in the mesosphere. This layer of the atmosphere is about 50-85 kilometers (31-53 miles) above Earth’s surface, far higher than the tops of …
Red Sprites – Like Lightning But Different - Science Notes and …
Nov 12, 2023 · Red Sprites vs Lightning. Red sprites and lightning are both plasma-based electrical phenomena, but they differ significantly in several aspects: Altitude and Location: Lightning typically occurs within the troposphere, the lowest layer of Earth’s atmosphere, where most weather phenomena take place. It occurs within or between clouds, or ...
Sprite (lightning) – Definition & Detailed Explanation - Sentinel …
Apr 28, 2024 · Sprites are a type of transient luminous event that occurs high above thunderstorms. They are often described as red, orange, or pink flashes of light that appear in the upper atmosphere. Sprites are closely related to lightning, but they are not the same thing.
Explainer: Sprites, jets, ELVES and other storm-powered lights
Mar 20, 2024 · Despite their size, sprites are so dim and quick — lasting mere thousandths of a second — that they’re hard to spot without sensitive cameras at night. “They are caused by intense cloud-to-ground lightning,” says Ningyu Liu. This physicist studies TLEs at the University of New Hampshire in Durham.
Astronauts Reveal Dazzling Red Sprites: Stunning ... - SciTechDaily
Oct 7, 2024 · An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured a sequence of photos showcasing a red sprite, a rare atmospheric phenomenon linked to lightning, over North America. Storm clouds shrouded the nighttime city lights of the U.S. Midwest and South. The space station’s Canadarm2 robotic arm is visible as a dark, elongated feature ...
Spritacular: NASA’s New Citizen Science Project to Capture Elusive ...
Oct 26, 2022 · NASA’s newest citizen science project, Spritacular (pronounced sprite-tacular), leverages the power of crowdsourcing to advance the study of sprites and other Transient Luminous Events, or TLEs. TLEs include a range of electrical phenomena that occur above thunderstorms and produce brief flashes of light.
Spritacular - NASA Science
Spritacular. Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) are colorful, bright, faster-than-lightning flashes that thunderstorms generate above the clouds. TLEs can take a variety of fanciful shapes with equally fanciful names. The most frequently observed TLEs are called “sprites,” like the enigmatic and playful fairies of folklore.