Stars, Sprites, Clouds, Auroras
Image Credit & Copyright:
Mike Hollingshead
(Extreme Instability)
What are those red streaks in the sky?
While photographing unexpected auroras over a distant thunderstorm, something extraordinary happened: red sprites.
This brief instance of rarely imaged high-altitude lightning flashed so bright that it was witnessed by several people independently.
Pictured over
Minnesota, USA in May 2013,
these red sprites likely followed an extremely powerful low-altitude
conventional lightning bolt.
Captured in the
featured frame
are a house and electrical pole in the foreground, thick clouds in the lower
atmosphere, a
lightning storm on the horizon,
distant red
sprites and green
aurora in the upper atmosphere,
and distant stars from our local neighborhood of the
Milky Way Galaxy.
The spectacular image
is thought to be only the
second known case of sprites and auroras photographed together,
and possibly the first in true color.