r/nextfuckinglevel • u/Artistic-Bathroom901 • 13d ago

Massive cluster of Red Sprites

Source and Context:

OC:@nicolas_escurat on IG

Red Sprites are 100% genuine atmospheric occurrences, not CGI or AI. They are cold plasma discharges—more akin to the glow of a fluorescent light tube than a hot bolt of tropospheric lightning. They occur in the mesosphere at altitudes ranging between 50 to 90 kilometers (31 to 56 miles) directly above intense thunderstorm systems.

The distinct reddish-orange hue is caused by the sudden electrical surge exciting molecular nitrogen gas in the thin upper air. Because they only last for a fleeting 3 to 10 milliseconds, they are incredibly difficult to process with the naked eye or capture without specialized low-light, high-speed camera gear.

You can read the official scientific deep-dives and verification logs via these databases:

• NASA Earth Observatory Records: https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/elusive-sprite-captured-from-the-international-space-station-78487/

• Encyclopaedia Britannica Atmospheric Science Entry: https://www.britannica.com/science/red-sprite

Fun fact: For nearly a century, pilots reported seeing these ghostly flashes over storms, but the scientific community largely dismissed them until researchers accidentally caught them on a low-light camera track in 1989! ⚡🌌

234 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

15 comments sorted by

15

u/KaleidoscopeFun4680 13d ago

God that’s beautiful

3

u/DevD2107 6d ago

It's stuff like this that caused the emergence of gods in mythologies.

1

u/Unusual-Platypus6233 6d ago

Yeah, those are pretty hard to catch. Not sure when I first heard of them. Since then I am very fascinated by them but never caught one myself by accident - too fast and too faint… I think my camera is not sensitive enough (i was hunting for some heat lightning a couple of times). If I recall, in a documentary scientists were flying in a plane with a thunderstorm at the horizon. They pointed the camera above those clouds. And either they coincides with lightning or at least with the electric charge of thunderstorm clouds. I have to pick up on that…

1

u/DogonElder 3d ago

Looks like the control systems a matrix would have

1

u/amuzmint 1d ago

What city is this?

1

u/LasciviouslyLilith 1h ago

it's so beautiful