Red Sprites seen in the Sky

Red Sprites seen in the Sky

One of ESO’s Photo Ambassadors has joined a select band of people who have photographed a strange phenomenon in the sky, known as Red Sprites.

These are not astronomical objects, but occur in the Earth’s atmosphere and are associated with thunderstorms.

They are hard to spot, as the conditions need to be right, and they are only visible for a few seconds. But Petr Horálek was in the right place at the right time when he visited ESO’s observatories at La Silla and Paranal in Chile.

This ESOcast explores the extraordinary images that result and describes how this ghostly
phenomenon comes about.

Credits ESO.

(See an explanation)

http://www.eso.org/public/announcements/ann16005

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