Starship Asterisk*

[quote=daifu post_id=334169 time=1696282120]
"shoot down from about 80-km high" 80 Km! - Really! That's 262,467 feet! Pretty high for a cumulonimbus...
[/quote]

Sprites are associated with cumulonimbus clouds (and the cloud to ground lightning they produce). The do not occur in those clouds, though, but very far above them.

"shoot down from about 80-km high" 80 Km! - Really! That's 262,467 feet! Pretty high for a cumulonimbus...

[quote=Avent post_id=334134 time=1696224422]
Reminds me of the family at[s]of[/s] Thanksgiving dinner
[/quote]

What does, the sprites or the African Jacana bird (and offspring)?

[attachment=0]APOD_1200Vetter.jpg[/attachment]
[attachment=1]HiResSprites_Escurat_1080.jpg[/attachment]
Nice images of the sprites! Is sky all they strike?
extraordinarily high-resolution> Three amigo dogs! You have to click on in write up to see them!

What makes the lightening? for kids from the 1950/60s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELZdZ_V-MuU

[quote=RocketRon post_id=334136 time=1696226498]
Lotsa legs there !!

Back to sprites.
And the red colouring is symptomatic/indicative of - what ???
[/quote]

Well, flashes of lightning are hot. According to [url=https://www.noaa.gov/jetstream/lightning/sound-of-thunder]this site[/url], lightning can be as hot as 30,000°C (54,000°F). Such a temperature means that the flash is technically blue (or blue-white), although it is typically so overexposed that we see it as white.

Red sprites are much colder:

[quote][url=https://www.swc.nd.gov/arb/news/atmospheric_reservoir/pdfs/2013_10%20-%20Red%20Sprites.pdf]www.swc.nd.gov[/url] wrote:

Thunderstorms produce lightning, which is a release of static electricity between positive and negative charges in the atmosphere. This discharge is extremely hot, (approximately 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit) roughly five times greater than the temperature of the sun. Occasionally, during positive or cloud to ground lightning strokes, another discharge of energy can take place above the thunderstorm and stretch into the upper reaches of earth’s atmosphere. This is called a red sprite. In comparison to lightning, red sprites are actually quite cold and their color is thought to result from charged particles interacting with nitrogen.[/quote]

Ann

Lotsa legs there !!

Back to sprites.
And the red colouring is symptomatic/indicative of - what ???

*at Thanksgiving dinner

Reminds me of the family of Thanksgiving dinner

Who would have guessed that red sprite lightning shows such a striking resemblance to the legs of the African Jacana (also known as the "Jesus Bird" because it can walk on water)?


[float=left][img3="Sprite Lightning in High Definition
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Escurat"]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2310/HiResSprites_Escurat_1080.jpg[/img3][/float][float=right][img3="African Jacana. Credit: r/natureismetal"]https://1721181113.rsc.cdn77.org/data/thumbs/full/26832/696/0/0/0/african-jacana-brd.jpg[/img3][/float]
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Oh, and - no. The African Jacana is not the sort of bird that should haunt your nightmares. He is just a dutiful father, and most of "his" legs belong to his chicks! And by the way - the reason why he can walk on water is because his [b][i]feet[/i][/b] are nightmarish. [url=https://images.birdfact.com/production/african-jacana.jpg?w=1200&h=630&q=82&auto=format&fit=crop&dm=1627308026&s=840ad79df2ffda6dbcafc281b10ab35f]They are[/url]!



[float=left][img3="African Jacana carrying his chicks under his wings. Credit: I don't know."]https://static.vecteezy.com/system/resources/previews/016/906/668/original/jacana-bird-this-bird-is-identical-with-many-legs-vector.jpg[/img3][/float][float=right][img3="African Jacana walking on floating leaves. Credit: Chris Eason"]https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/50/African_Jacana_%28Actophilornis_africanus%29.jpg/1280px-African_Jacana_%28Actophilornis_africanus%29.jpg[/img3][/float]
[clear][/clear]

Ann

[url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap231002.html] [img]https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_231002.jpg[/img] [size=150]Sprite Lightning in High Definition[/size][/url]

[b] Explanation: [/b] Sometimes lightning occurs out near space. One such [url=https://scijinks.gov/lightning/]lightning[/url] type is [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)]red sprite lightning[/url], which has only been photographed and studied on [url=https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/all-about-earth/]Earth[/url] over the past 25 years. The origins of all types of [url=https://www.nssl.noaa.gov/education/svrwx101/lightning/]lightning[/url] remain topics for research, and scientists are still trying to figure out why [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230918.html]red sprite lightning[/url] occurs at all. 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://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html]quickly followed[/url] by a group of upward streaking [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionization]ionized[/url] balls. [url=https://www.facebook.com/groups/376355972487572/permalink/6327770937346016/]Featured here[/url] is an [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/96/d5/19/96d5193fa5f6968243838aef44d4b4b7.jpg]extraordinarily high-resolution[/url] image of a [url=https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170615.html]group of red sprites[/url]. This image is a single frame lasting only 1/25th of a second from a video taken above [url=https://youtu.be/2lUm6m4T8Ds?t=17]Castelnaud Castle[/url] in [url=https://youtu.be/l5Ybmr-M4JQ]Dordogne[/url], [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France]France[/url], about three weeks ago. The sprites quickly vanished -- no sprites were visible even on the very next video frame.


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