Explanation: The sprite and tree could hardly be more different. To start, the red sprite is an unusual form of lightning, while the tree is a common plant. The sprite is far away -- high in Earth's atmosphere, while the tree is nearby -- only about a football field away. The sprite is fast -- electrons streaming up and down at near light's speed, while the tree is slow -- wood anchored to the ground. The sprite is bright -- lighting up the sky, while the tree is dim -- shining mostly by reflected light. The sprite was fleeting -- lasting only a small fraction of a second, while the tree is durable -- living now for many years. Both however, when captured together, appear oddly similar in this featured composite image captured early this month in France as a thunderstorm passed over mountains of the <a href"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyr%C3%A9 ... ">Atlantic Pyrenees</a>.
I heartily recommend the videos that are linked in the caption of today's APOD, like this one, which shows the detailed progression of one of those ultra-fast sprites:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
But I also recommend another, longer video, that explains how red sprites (and blue jets, and green afterglows) form, and what they are.
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Happy watching!
Ann
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 6:28 am
by Avent
We only dwell in the realm of giants. We are blessed to see such things. May the nest of organic intelligence, be afraid not to show what it brings.
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 11:08 am
by mister T
The Flying Spaghetti Monster!!
I'm (not?) worthy!!
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 2:16 pm
by johnnydeep
Avent wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 6:28 am
We only dwell in the realm of giants. We are blessed to see such things. May the nest of organic intelligence, be afraid not to show what it brings.
Yet, we ARE the giants when compared to microbes and viruses!
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:09 pm
by Roy
It is good to have terrestrial objects in the picture for scale and contrast, especially if they are in the same realm, electrical in this case. The slow motion video of a sprite shows downward strikes ionizing pathways for large upward strikes which spray out and dissipate charge high in the mesosphere, traveling back and forth hundreds of kilometers in less than a quarter of a second.
By contrast, the tree has used the chemicals and electrons and millivolts of cell life to lift and extend itself from the earth over time measured in hundreds of years, recharging from sunlight daily, consuming the 4 hundredths of one percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and returning its share of the 21 percent of oxygen to the atmosphere for our (animal and insect) use.
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 5:09 pm
by johnnydeep
Roy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:09 pm
It is good to have terrestrial objects in the picture for scale and contrast, especially if they are in the same realm, electrical in this case. The slow motion video of a sprite shows downward strikes ionizing pathways for large upward strikes which spray out and dissipate charge high in the mesosphere, traveling back and forth hundreds of kilometers in less than a quarter of a second.
By contrast, the tree has used the chemicals and electrons and millivolts of cell life to lift and extend itself from the earth over time measured in hundreds of years, recharging from sunlight daily, consuming the 4 hundredths of one percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and returning its share of the 21 percent of oxygen to the atmosphere for our (animal and insect) use.
One thing visibly absent from the APOD image, and not explicitly mentioned in your pleasing metaphor is the particular role that the roots of the tree play. Just as the downward activity of the sprite components give rise to the upward activity, so too does the growth of the roots of a tree enable the air bound portion to proliferate. I'm sure this analogy has flaws, but it's still nice.
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 5:38 pm
by judymyers100@hotmail.com
"Composite image" means to me that the sprite and the tree were photographed separately. I clicked the link for that phrase and was rewarded with the Instagram post of the APOD and its description in French which I appreciated but which did not answer my question about what "composite image" means in terms of this lovely image.
Is this APOD composed of one picture or two?
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Mon Sep 18, 2023 8:34 pm
by orin stepanek
Ya; one is slow (the tree) the other is quick; (the Sprite)
But did you notice that the shapes were similar? My
Opinion by the way!
Cat and ball!
Nosy Doggy!
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Tue Sep 19, 2023 3:35 am
by Ann
judymyers100@hotmail.com wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 5:38 pm
"Composite image" means to me that the sprite and the tree were photographed separately. I clicked the link for that phrase and was rewarded with the Instagram post of the APOD and its description in French which I appreciated but which did not answer my question about what "composite image" means in terms of this lovely image.
Is this APOD composed of one picture or two?
It would not be possible to photograph the tree and the sprite at the same time, with the same camera equipment, camera lens, various camera settings. So yes, the red sprite was photographed on one occasions and the tree was photographed at another time.
Ann
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Posted: Thu Sep 21, 2023 4:40 am
by Ann
Let's just have a look at another video, where you can really see how fleeting the red sprites are:
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
The sprites start appearing at about 1.58.
Ann
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Roy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:09 pm
It is good to have terrestrial objects in the picture for scale and contrast, especially if they are in the same realm, electrical in this case. The slow motion video of a sprite shows downward strikes ionizing pathways for large upward strikes which spray out and dissipate charge high in the mesosphere, traveling back and forth hundreds of kilometers in less than a quarter of a second.
By contrast, the tree has used the chemicals and electrons and millivolts of cell life to lift and extend itself from the earth over time measured in hundreds of years, recharging from sunlight daily, consuming the 4 hundredths of one percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and returning its share of the 21 percent of oxygen to the atmosphere for our (animal and insect) use.
One thing visibly absent from the APOD image, and not explicitly mentioned in your pleasing metaphor is the particular role that the roots of the tree play. Just as the downward activity of the sprite components give rise to the upward activity, so too does the growth of the roots of a tree enable the air bound portion to proliferate. I'm sure this analogy has flaws, but it's still nice.
Roy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:09 pm
It is good to have terrestrial objects in the picture for scale and contrast, especially if they are in the same realm, electrical in this case. The slow motion video of a sprite shows downward strikes ionizing pathways for large upward strikes which spray out and dissipate charge high in the mesosphere, traveling back and forth hundreds of kilometers in less than a quarter of a second.
By contrast, the tree has used the chemicals and electrons and millivolts of cell life to lift and extend itself from the earth over time measured in hundreds of years, recharging from sunlight daily, consuming the 4 hundredths of one percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and returning its share of the 21 percent of oxygen to the atmosphere for our (animal and insect) use.
One thing visibly absent from the APOD image, and not explicitly mentioned in your pleasing metaphor is the particular role that the roots of the tree play. Just as the downward activity of the sprite components give rise to the upward activity, so too does the growth of the roots of a tree enable the air bound portion to proliferate. I'm sure this analogy has flaws, but it's still nice.
sprites.png
I like your comparison. Most plants and trees are also creatures that alternate between two "mediums": earth and air. Their "drive" could also be viewed as a somewhat more complicated form of solar-pulsed voltage compensation. The sprites have their roots in the mesoshere and the branches in the ionosphere, which creates a different structure and plasma color due to the different chemical and physical conditions. The phase breakdown (short circuit) is always channeled via a central plasma channel which then disperses on both sides in the respective media field. Sprites, lightning and probably also volcanoes and sunspots work according to the same basic principle.
...Trees just make the whole thing a little slower, more controlled and more sustainable ,-)
Jac
P.S.: If the ionosphere (your ground level) starts at 80 km, the sprite in the APOD should be around 60 km tall, which is more than six times the height of the Mount Everest - means sprites are gigantic.
Re: APOD: The Red Sprite and the Tree (2023 Sep 18)
Roy wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 3:09 pm
It is good to have terrestrial objects in the picture for scale and contrast, especially if they are in the same realm, electrical in this case. The slow motion video of a sprite shows downward strikes ionizing pathways for large upward strikes which spray out and dissipate charge high in the mesosphere, traveling back and forth hundreds of kilometers in less than a quarter of a second.
By contrast, the tree has used the chemicals and electrons and millivolts of cell life to lift and extend itself from the earth over time measured in hundreds of years, recharging from sunlight daily, consuming the 4 hundredths of one percent carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and returning its share of the 21 percent of oxygen to the atmosphere for our (animal and insect) use.
One thing visibly absent from the APOD image, and not explicitly mentioned in your pleasing metaphor is the particular role that the roots of the tree play. Just as the downward activity of the sprite components give rise to the upward activity, so too does the growth of the roots of a tree enable the air bound portion to proliferate. I'm sure this analogy has flaws, but it's still nice.
sprites.png
I like your comparison. Most plants and trees are also creatures that alternate between two "mediums": earth and air. Their "drive" could also be viewed as a somewhat more complicated form of solar-pulsed voltage compensation. The sprites have their roots in the mesoshere and the branches in the ionosphere, which creates a different structure and plasma color due to the different chemical and physical conditions. The phase breakdown (short circuit) is always channeled via a central plasma channel which then disperses on both sides in the respective media field. Sprites, lightning and probably also volcanoes and sunspots work according to the same basic principle.
...Trees just make the whole thing a little slower, more controlled and more sustainable ,-)
Jac
P.S.: If the ionosphere (your ground level) starts at 80 km, the sprite in the APOD should be around 60 km tall, which is more than six times the height of the Mount Everest - means sprites are gigantic.
The Red Sprite and the Tree
I like the fact that the bottom of the sprite is purple, not red. Indeed, sometimes you find a blue jet at the bottom of the red sprite:
