Explanation: This dramatic, garishly colored image was captured with a low-light level camera on 2001 June 7. It shows what appears to be a "burning tree" above the National Cheng Kung University campus in Tainan City, Taiwan ... but the burning tree is actually a fleeting red sprite 300 kilometers away. Red sprites are recently discovered and still poorly understood optical flashes seen dancing at altitudes of 30 to 90 kilometers above thunderstorms. Cousins to lightning bolts, red sprites occur near the edge of the atmosphere and have been glimpsed by astronauts from orbit. What ever their cause, the red sprite flashes usually last only tenths to hundredths of a second and characteristically take on shapes which researchers describe as columns, fingers, trees, or carrots.

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Yanvar' Fevral' Mart Aprel' Mai Iyun' Iyul' Avgust Sentyabr' Oktyabr' Noyabr' Dekabr'

Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.

Publikacii s klyuchevymi slovami: spraity - lightning - sprites Publikacii so slovami: spraity - lightning - sprites
Sm. takzhe: Gigantskii dzhet s Mezhdunarodnoi kosmicheskoi stancii Gigantskie dzhety nad Gimalayami Molnii sprait s vysokim razresheniem Krasnyi sprait i derevo Molnii na Yupitere Molniya ELVES nad Italiei Sledy zvezd i molnii nad Pireneyami Vse publikacii na tu zhe temu >>