NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured an electrifying image of a giant lightning "sprite" shooting up over Mexico and southern U.S. states. The red "jellyfish" could help researchers learn more about this rare phenomenon.
  • moonlight@fedia.io
    9·
    3 days ago

    Anyone know why it goes from blueish to pinkish in color at the end of the arc? It looks like the same color shift that happens in a plasma globe.

    • Beryl@jlai.lu
      6·
      3 days ago

      Good question. From the wikipedia article on sprites : “Sprites get their characteristic red color from excitation of nitrogen in the low pressure environment of the upper mesosphere. At such low pressures quenching by atomic oxygen is much faster than that of nitrogen, allowing for nitrogen emissions to dominate despite no difference in composition.”