What is a jellyfish Sprite?

Sometimes during a thunderstorm, you can glimpse tentacles of jellyfish-shaped lightning drooping down from space. This phenomenon is called a red sprite — it's a type of electrical discharge that happens up to 50 miles into the atmosphere.

How are sprites formed?

Sprites or red sprites are large-scale electric discharges that occur 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.

Are sprites real?

If you're looking for sprites or elves dancing in the forest after dark, you might be disappointed—but in a way, they do exist. What are known as “sprites” and “elves” are actually Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) that emerge from the upper atmosphere when thunderstorms are brewing and lightning strikes.

How tall can a jellyfish sprite be?

Jellyfish sprites can be dozens of miles tall and across, Bór says, and each “tendril” may be nearly 1,000 feet in diameter.

Are red sprites rare?

A red sprite is the easiest TLE to see. They aren't actually rare but they're just not commonly seen because no one's looking for them!

Bright Jellyfish Red Sprites, Sprite Outbreak! May 23 2020. Playing with Red Sprite photography

Is Purple lightning real?

Purple or lilac-tinted lightning bolt is often caused by high atmospheric humidity; which means the thunderstorm is accompanied by high-precipitation. Yellow lightning is uncommon; however, they tend to be cooler than the blue, lilac and white. They're caused to due to a high concentration of dust in the air.

Is Green lightning real?

Green lightning is a rare phenomenon that can be seen during a thunderstorm. Someone who has seen green lightning is extremely lucky as green lightning strikes are rarely seen. It is so rare that the only photograph of a green lightning strike is one from when the Chaiten volcano in Chile erupted.

Is red lightning real?

Red lightning doesn't exist in the literal sense, according to the National Weather Service. The closest known phenomena is something called a red sprite, which occurs high in the atmosphere “directly above an active thunderstorm,” NOAA says.

Why is sprite red?

Red sprites are thought to be caused by a rare but intense form of lightning called positive lightning. Whereas most cloud-to-ground lightning has a negative electric charge, positive lightning has a positive charge.

What sprite means?

Definition of sprite

1a : elf, fairy. b : an elfish person. 2a : a disembodied spirit : ghost.

What do sprites look like?

A sprite (derived from the Latin word "spiritus") is a type of magical being, often described as a tiny humanoid with insect-like wings. Often used interchangeably with "fairy".

Can you see sprites?

"Sprites usually appear to the eye as very brief, dim, grey structures. You need to be looking for them to spot them, and oftentimes I am not certain I actually saw one until I check the camera footage to confirm," Hummel tells Business Insider's Aylin Woodward.

Why is sprite called sprite?

The Sprite Boy campaign was discontinued in 1958 – three years before Sprite the beverage would be introduced. The name originated from the previous Coca-Cola campaign, but it was a focus group that ultimately chose the name Sprite.

What color are sprites?

Green has served as the primary colour for Sprite in its advertising, packaging, merchandising and more. “It's classic, crisp and clean. Green is a refreshing colour, just like Sprite,” said Charlotte McCrudden, Sprite brand manager at Coca-Cola South Pacific.

Is red lightning hotter than blue?

The color spectrum in this case start with infared which is red and the coolest up to ultraviolet which appears violet and is the hottest. Lightning also can take on a range of colors, depending on conditions in the clouds and in the air. Typically, blue lightning within a cloud indicates the presence of hail.

Is blue lightning real?

When an unexpected event happens people describe it as a “bolt from the blue”. The phrase is actually based on real weather phenomena where a lightning bolt will strike an area with no overhead clouds. While bolts from the blue don't originate from blue sky, they occur infrequently, are unexpected, and can be deadly.

Can lightning exist space?

Lightning as we know it in air cannot happen in vacuum because lightening depends crucially on the generation of positive ions and negative electrons by ionization of molecules of the air in high electric fields (and eventually high temperatures) and the ensuing impact ionization typical for a gas discharge.

What is a sky sprite?

Sprites are rapid flashes of red light that occur high up in the mesosphere, over 50 kilometres above the ground. Similar to how lightning is an electrical discharge between a cloud and the ground, sprites are electrical discharges between the top of a thunderstorm and the upper atmosphere.

What is the rarest lightning?

ball lightning, also called globe lightning, a rare aerial phenomenon in the form of a luminous sphere that is generally several centimetres in diameter. It usually occurs near the ground during thunderstorms, in close association with cloud-to-ground lightning.

What is Spider lightning?

Spider lightning refers to long, horizontally traveling flashes often seen on the underside of stratiform clouds. Spider lightning is often linked to +CG flashes.

Is purple lightning rare?

The rare purple lightning strike occurs far higher in the atmosphere than normal lightning – and has only rarely been caught on film. The flash of 'ionospheric lightning' stands out against the deep blue of a night sky behind, while the raging storm lights up the clouds below.

Is there Black lightning?

Scientists have just begun to understand a strange phenomenon known simply as "dark lightning". Different from regular lightning, dark lightning is a release of high-energy gamma radiation—sources include supernovae and supermassive black holes—that is completely invisible to the human eye.

What is dark lightning?

Dark lightning is a burst of gamma rays produced during thunderstorms by extremely fast moving electrons colliding with air molecules. Researchers refer to such a burst as a terrestrial gamma ray flash.

Can lightning pink?

Lightning can appear to be many different colors depending on what the light travels through to get to your eyes. In snowstorms, where it is somewhat rare, pink and green are often described as colors of lightning.