Red Sprites and Noctilucent clouds – together -a Mesphere remarkable image!

[Laurence Green]

On the NASA APOD website there is a portrayal of a marvellous image of both the elusive Red Sprites and Noctilucent clouds photographed over the Vosges mountains in France on 26 June recent.  Mesphere image.

Here is the link – a short but concise and informative caption about how these things occur accompanies the photo.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap200704.html

Here is some more interesting reading about the Red Sprites:-

a)   https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191008.html

<span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>b)   Red Sprites over the English Channel</span>:-Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees, TWAN)

Explanation:

Mysterious and incredibly brief, red sprites are seen to occur high above large thunderstorms on planet Earth.

While they have been recorded from low Earth orbit or high flying airplanes, these dancing, lightning-like events were captured in video frames from a mountain top perch in northern France

Taken during the night of May 28, the remarkably clear, unobstructed view looks toward a multicell storm system raging over the English Channel about 600 kilometers away. Lasting only a few milliseconds, the red sprite association with thunderstorms is known. Still, much remains a mystery about the fleeting apparitions including the nature of their relation to other upper atmospheric lightning phenomena such as blue jets or satellite detected terrestrial gamma flashes.

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170615.html

Laurence

 

[Hans Stocker]

Thanks for sharing this Laurence. Incredible phenomenon!

Hans

[Author]

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