Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2023 October 2
      [2]A normal starry sky is punctuated by by several very unusually
    shaped red objects, known as sprites. These sprites are shown in very
              high details including several very well defined

                     Sprite Lightning in High Definition
                Image Credit & Copyright: [3]Nicolas Escurat

   Explanation: Sometimes lightning occurs out near space. One such
   [4]lightning type is [5]red sprite lightning, which has only been
   photographed and studied on [6]Earth over the past 25 years. The
   origins of all types of [7]lightning remain topics for research, and
   scientists are still trying to figure out why [8]red sprite lightning
   occurs at all. Research [9]has shown that following a powerful positive
   [10]cloud-to-ground lightning strike, [11]red sprites may start as
   100-meter balls of [12]ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km
   high at 10 percent the [13]speed of light. They are [14]quickly
   followed by a group of upward streaking [15]ionized balls. [16]Featured
   here is an [17]extraordinarily high-resolution image of a [18]group of
   red sprites. This image is a single frame lasting only 1/25th of a
   second from a video taken above [19]Castelnaud Castle in [20]Dordogne,
   [21]France, about three weeks ago. The sprites quickly vanished -- no
   sprites were visible even on the very next video frame.

                     Tomorrow's picture: eye in the sky
     __________________________________________________________________

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    Authors & editors: [33]Robert Nemiroff ([34]MTU) & [35]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([36]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [37]Specific rights apply.
              [38]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [39]ASD at [40]NASA / [41]GSFC,
                         [42]NASA Science Activation
                           & [43]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2310/HiResSprites_Escurat_3000.jpg
   3. https://www.facebook.com/nicolas.escurat/
   4. https://scijinks.gov/lightning/
   5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)
   6. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-earth/
   7. https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/
   8. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230918.html
   9. https://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/space/AtmosElec/spriteinfo.html
  10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120723.html
  11. https://earthsky.org/earth/definition-what-are-lightning-sprites/
  12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionized-air_glow
  13. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/three-ways-to-travel-at-nearly-the-speed-of-light
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html
  15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization
  16. https://www.facebook.com/groups/376355972487572/permalink/6327770937346016/
  17. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/96/d5/19/96d5193fa5f6968243838aef44d4b4b7.jpg
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170615.html
  19. https://youtu.be/2lUm6m4T8Ds?t=17
  20. https://youtu.be/l5Ybmr-M4JQ
  21. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France
  22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231001.html
  23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  26. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  31. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=231002
  32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231003.html
  33. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  35. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  36. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  37. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  38. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  39. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  40. https://www.nasa.gov/
  41. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  42. https://science.nasa.gov/learners
  43. http://www.mtu.edu/