Red Sprites and GHOST

November 13, 2020

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Photographer: Christophe Suarez 
Summary Author: Christophe Suarez 

Featured above is an image of red sprites (jellyfish) above a powerful thunderstorm on the island of Corsica, as observed September 10, 2020 at 21:55 UTC. I captured this shot from the Ligurian Coast, near Genoa, Italy, some 240 miles (300 km) north of the storm. Red sprites are transient luminous events that on occasion are triggered by lightning activity. Also seen (faintly) are green emissions from excited oxygen in the sprite tops (GHOSTS). This rare phenomenon was described for the first time in 2019 by storm-chaser Hank Schyma. Thanks to Stéphane Vetter and Paul Smith, who helped me make the successful capture of the red sprites and GHOST.

Photo Details: Camera NIKON Z 6; Software Adobe Photoshop CC 2019 (Macintosh); Exposure Time 3.000s; Aperture ƒ/2.0; ISO equivalent 3200; Focal Length (35mm) 100 3 second exposure