Storm chaser Giorgos Paraskevaides captured the extremely rare phenomenon of Red Sprites above Cyprus on Tuesday night.
What are Red Sprites?
Red Sprites belong to the family of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), alongside Blue Jets, Gigantic Jets, and Elves. Scientists accidentally photographed them for the first time in 1989, though reports date back much earlier.
These giant red flashes occur 40–90 km above powerful thunderstorms and link to positive cloud-to-ground lightning. They can appear as simple columns or jellyfish-like structures.
According to the Athens Astrophotography and Storm Chasing Team, they result from intense excitation and ionisation of atmospheric molecules (mainly nitrogen) triggered by columns of cold plasma high in the atmosphere.
How to see them
Red Sprites appear only above distant thunderstorm cells (50–800 km away). The closer the storm, the higher the sprites appear. They last just milliseconds and are extremely faint, making them almost impossible to spot with the naked eye and very difficult to photograph without specialised equipment.
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