With giant “sprites” (eng. sprites) electrical discharges are similar to the so-called red “sprites”, but they are even more intense and rise up into the atmosphere instead of descending towards the ground.
The spectacular footage was captured early Sunday morning, August 4, during a thunderstorm in Puerto Rico and shared by the Caribbean Astronomical Society.
After reviewing the captured images of the meteors, the organization’s astronomers realized that their cameras had captured at least three giant “sprites” and several more red “sprites”.
“The photographs obtained suggest that these discharges seen from the island must have been of longer duration than usual. Maybe even some people could see them,” the Astronomical Society said in a Facebook post.
After they shared the news with their followers on Facebook, several people responded and confirmed that they had managed to see the sight with the naked eye.
Giant lightning bolts are the rarest form of lightning, occurring only 1,000 times a year. They are about 10 to 50 times more intense than normal lightning and last less than a second. They are usually associated with thunderstorms and “crash” high above the clouds.
Their reaction with nitrogen in the mesosphere, which is about 50-85 km above the Earth’s surface, causes the light they emit to appear red.
Amazingly, the ‘spears’ were first caught on camera only in 1989, confirming reports by some people who had previously seen strange red flashes of light during thunderstorms – many of whom must have thought their eyes were deceiving them.
As previously explained by NASA, the cause of the giant “sprites” is not yet clear, although it is likely to be related to an imbalance between different parts of the Earth’s atmosphere, just like “traditional” lightning forms, according to IFLScience.
2024-08-19 07:09:37