Starship Asterisk*

[quote="Jim Armstrong" post_id=325793 time=1663003435]
It was not too long ago that photographs of this wonderful phenomenon were nearly nonexistent.
Look at them now, with every expectation of more!
[/quote]

I was thinking exactly this too. Especially as I was clicking the many links in today's APOD.

I love that technology is always improving while at the same time becoming in reach of more and more people; both amateur and professional. I think we live in a wonderful time for learning about our universe.

- Don

[quote="Sa Ji Tario" post_id=325797 time=1663017696]
[quote=david@gordon.fm post_id=325777 time=1662965955]
What's the structure that appears to be on fire in the lower RH corner?
[/quote]
[/quote]
communications tower

[quote=david@gordon.fm post_id=325777 time=1662965955]
What's the structure that appears to be on fire in the lower RH corner?
[/quote]

It was not too long ago that photographs of this wonderful phenomenon were nearly nonexistent.
Look at them now, with every expectation of more!

[quote=VictorBorun post_id=325787 time=1662986567 user_id=145500]
[quote=JohnD post_id=325785 time=1662985243 user_id=100329]
10% light speed? Wow! A quick Google finds that to be 67 MILLION mph. They are ionised gas, in the upper atmosphere, so not very dense. Can anyone estimate their mass? Because to accelerate from zero to that, even for a millisecond, must use a heck of a lot of energy, even for a packet of thin gas!
John
[/quote]

the air does not move; some free electrons move, but not all the way: they shift here and there. It's the cold plasma red fluorescence zone that is moving.
Like waving a laser beam, this non-material movement is massless
[/quote]

Thank you, Victor! So, this is more like a charge moving through the atmosphere? Like lightning, but about 250 times FASTER?

[quote=VictorBorun post_id=325788 time=1662987143 user_id=145500]
[quote=mtbdudex post_id=325786 time=1662986332 user_id=132782]
Epic capture, from his facebook page
"Selection of the best elves from the night of 26.8.2022 over the north of Bohemia. Photographed by the Golden Mountains. Sony A7S modified + 135GM, ISO 2500, F/2, 3.2s"
[/quote]

3 seconds exposure? My guess was wrong. Still, that [i]is[/i] too short to smear stars by daily rotation
[/quote]

"Selection".

This is a stack of individual 3-second images, taken over an unspecified period. So we'd certainly expect to see star trails.

[attachment=1]sprites_scerba_960.jpg[/attachment]
Red sprites; like fireworks in the Czech Republic skys!
[attachment=0]lightning-sprite-Stephen-Hummel-McDonald-Observaory-jul2-2020-e1597578397879.png[/attachment]beautiful; almost looks like a sifi scene!

[quote=mtbdudex post_id=325786 time=1662986332 user_id=132782]
Epic capture, from his facebook page
"Selection of the best elves from the night of 26.8.2022 over the north of Bohemia. Photographed by the Golden Mountains. Sony A7S modified + 135GM, ISO 2500, F/2, 3.2s"
[/quote]

3 seconds exposure? My guess was wrong. Still, that [i]is[/i] too short to smear stars by daily rotation

[quote=JohnD post_id=325785 time=1662985243 user_id=100329]
10% light speed? Wow! A quick Google finds that to be 67 MILLION mph. They are ionised gas, in the upper atmosphere, so not very dense. Can anyone estimate their mass? Because to accelerate from zero to that, even for a millisecond, must use a heck of a lot of energy, even for a packet of thin gas!
John
[/quote]

the air does not move; some free electrons move, but not all the way: they shift here and there. It's the cold plasma red fluorescence zone that is moving.
Like waving a laser beam, this non-material movement is massless

Epic capture, from his facebook page
"Selection of the best elves from the night of 26.8.2022 over the north of Bohemia. Photographed by the Golden Mountains. Sony A7S modified + 135GM, ISO 2500, F/2, 3.2s"

10% light speed? Wow! A quick Google finds that to be 67 MILLION mph. They are ionised gas, in the upper atmosphere, so not very dense. Can anyone estimate their mass? Because to accelerate from zero to that, even for a millisecond, must use a heck of a lot of energy, even for a packet of thin gas!
John

Absolutely REMARKABLE photo!

[quote=Iksarfighter post_id=325780 time=1662974096 user_id=143794]
30 sec exposure ? As the stars moved a bit.
[/quote]

I think the stars were smeared by camera vibration during 100 ms exposure and the sprites lasted 1 ms and did not smear so much.
The sprites are tracks of cold plasma balls that go up at 10% speed of light and therefore those balls do get smeared in a 100 ms exposure:
it takes (90 km - 50 km)/(30 km/ms) = 1.3 ms for a ball to travel its track

It seems very strange to me that a cold plasma ball going up should fork 3 ways to make a trident.

By the way [url="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorik_of_Dorestad"]Rorik of Dorestad[/url], the Danish prince to start the Rurikid dynasty, used both Thor's hammer and trident insignia (that trident survives at the modern Ukranian flag). Must been a red sprite trident, to go together with Thor

[img]https://scontent-ams4-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/299189937_4801567549942887_5318534131422115639_n.jpg?_nc_cat=109&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=730e14&_nc_ohc=IFUW2iSiJ4kAX_qMngv&_nc_ht=scontent-ams4-1.xx&oh=00_AT89yHXpgvs51m4aZXok-8zELpnVN9ajG6IRjLiGg6jXUA&oe=63239D03[/img][img]https://img.freepik.com/premium-vector/coat-arms-ukraine-trident-icon-state-emblem-background-flag-national-ukrainian-flag-vector-illustration_118339-1978.jpg?w=2000[/img]

Update. Sorry, Rorik used bident; the Rurikid made it into a trident later, after Olga (Helga) added Freya's hawk-flying cloak and it transformed to a middle prong.

30 sec exposure ? As the stars moved a bit.

What's the structure that appears to be on fire in the lower RH corner?

Amazing photo !
How long was the exposure ?

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220912.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_220912.jpg[/img] [size=150]Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] What are those red filaments in the sky? They are a rarely seen form of [url=https://www.lightningmaps.org/]lightning[/url] confirmed only about 35 years ago: [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_sprite]red sprites[/url]. Research [url=https://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/space/AtmosElec/spriteinfo.html]has shown[/url] that following a powerful positive [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120723.html]cloud-to-ground lightning[/url] strike, [url=https://earthsky.org/earth/definition-what-are-lightning-sprites/]red sprites[/url] may start as 100-meter balls of [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionized-air_glow]ionized air[/url] that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10 percent the [url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2019/three-ways-to-travel-at-nearly-the-speed-of-light]speed of light[/url]. They are [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATmpgZoMRM0]quickly followed[/url] by a group of upward streaking ionized balls. The [url=https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10228360740152891&set=pcb.10228360752593202]featured image[/url] was taken late last month from the [url=https://youtu.be/qMcNVkA4DzE]Jeseniky Mountains[/url] in northern [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravia]Moravia[/url] in the [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Republic]Czech Republic[/url]. The distance to the [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210816.html]red[/url] [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210330.html]sprites[/url] is about 200 kilometers. [url=https://earthweb.ess.washington.edu/space/AtmosElec/spriteinfo.html]Red sprites[/url] take only a [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html]fraction of a second to occur[/url] and are best seen when [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170226.html]powerful thunderstorm[/url]s are visible from the side.


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