Sprites (upper atmosphere phenomena above lightning)

[EricTheCat]

Sprites occur high above some strong lightning strikes. They are a brief, faint and fleeting phenomena. Sprites fascinate me and I have had it on my bucket list to capture one with my camera for some time. Finally last night I managed to capture a few sprites with my camera. I thought I would share for those who enjoy treasures of the night sky.







Happy hunting,
Eric

 

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[kcm]

That's cool!! Did you take snapshots or did you take video, then single out a few frames?

 

[Hitndahed]

I find it VERY interesting that there are NO other cloud formations in those images.
To me,,, that would suggest that the "sprites" are another manifestation of "electricity".
Some of them are very beautiful.

 

[Backwoodsbob]

The sprites I know about are female spiritual beings that lure men

Sent from my SM-G900T using Tapatalk

 

[jdsly]

Northern lights......seen them many times in many colors

 

[EricTheCat]

That's cool!! Did you take snapshots or did you take video, then single out a few frames?

Thanks! I used my interval timer to take 6 second exposures over and over. It took many hours of attempts over many thunderstorms before I finally caught some with this storm.

I find it VERY interesting that there are NO other cloud formations in those images.
To me,,, that would suggest that the "sprites" are another manifestation of "electricity".
Some of them are very beautiful.

Sprites sure are fascinating and mysterious. They occur very high up above thunderstorms in the upper atmosphere. The storm was over about 60 miles away and my woods were blocking the storm itself in most of my frames. People have recorded sprites from storms that are hundreds of miles away.

The sprites I know about are female spiritual beings that lure men

I'll have what you're having.

Northern lights......seen them many times in many colors

If you are saying these are Northern lights you are not correct. Aurora does not usually occur as a fleeting flash that would show on one exposure but not show on the frame right before it and also not show on the frame right after it. If you search for some other pictures of red sprites you will see they often have this look. Aurora occurs in a similar height of the atmosphere as sprites do and I can see where you could see the similarity. These are Northern lights: http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/photography-images/502350-aurora-last-saturday-night.html


Thanks everyone!
Happy hunting,
Eric

 

[A2coins]

Thanks for sharing those I love stuff like that great shots

 

[EricTheCat]

Thanks for sharing those I love stuff like that great shots

Thank you A2coins for the kind words.

As a unique reward for resurrecting this old thread, here are a couple more sprite pics I got. These were in 2017.

 

[Kray Gelder]

Very cool! It's really remarkable that you were able to capture sprites. Great job! Very clever to focus on over the horizon T-storms. You would never see them on a closer storm. It also helps to have a dark and pollution free night sky. Very nice. I'm impressed.

 

[EricTheCat]

Very cool! It's really remarkable that you were able to capture sprites. Great job! Very clever to focus on over the horizon T-storms. You would never see them on a closer storm. It also helps to have a dark and pollution free night sky. Very nice. I'm impressed.

Thanks! I generally target moments when I can see flashes of distant lightning in a direction that is not obstructed by clouds. It really does help to have a dark sky. Having a decent sky was something I looked for when finding a house because of my interest in Astronomy and astrophotography.