Real Sprites Caught on Camera!

No, this is not a joke, although I’m not referring to the sprites of fairy tales…

A “sprite” is a whimsical name given to a particularly ephemeral upper atmosphere phenomenon that’s generated by lightning discharges in powerful thunderstorm clouds. Sprites are witnessed as whispy colourful flickering shapes above the thunderstorm clouds and in this video, we watch a team of storm-chasers in hot pursuit of these large-scale electrical discharges.

The things people do for science…

Video Source: “Storm Chasing in a Jet – Capturing Upper-atmospheric Lightning” Uploaded by CuriousVideos to YouTube channel www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSCwiQWzMa0.

Original Source: From NOVA – At the Edge of Space by PBS