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Sprites are red-coloured streamers of ionized air molecules at altitudes usually between 40 and 90 kilometers above the ground. They develop very rapidly in response to the changing electric field between a thunderstorm and the ionosphere, when a large amount of electrical charge is transfered by a big lightning flash from the thundercloud to the earth. This may happen every few minutes during the late life of a large thunderstorm.
Only very few people have noticed them, because of their short duration and low brightness. After a century of unconfirmed sightings of luminous phenomena over the tops of thunderclouds, scientists discovered their existance in 1989, when modern night vision equipment was pointed over a distant thunderstorm. Nowadays anyone can obtain high-quality black-and-white images of sprites with a security camera setup of a few hundred euros (excl. computer).
At present it remains very difficult to obtain good colour images, compared to B/W.
Enthusiastic about the sprite catches during Eurosprite, I bought my own sprite camera. Nowadays when a thunderstorm is within 450 km from me, and I have clear skies, I can record interesting things without having to wait before a storm finally moves over my place! The gallery does not include everything. Contact me if you need to know all details (for research). Later I will also post some movies.
And what about blue jets and elves and trolls? These are very rare to catch, so have a lot of patience!
Number of sprites caught in 2007 so far: 48 [last: 15 July 2007]
Highest Rated
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