Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2021 March 30

                     Red Sprite Lightning over the Andes
       Image Credit & Copyright: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas
                             Observatory, TWAN)

   Explanation: What are those red filaments in the sky? They are a rarely
   seen form of lightning confirmed only about 30 years ago: red sprites.
   Recent research has shown that following a powerful positive
   cloud-to-ground lightning strike, red sprites may start as 100-meter
   balls of ionized air that shoot down from about 80-km high at 10
   percent the speed of light. They are quickly followed by a group of
   upward streaking ionized balls. The featured image was taken earlier
   this year from Las Campanas observatory in Chile over the Andes
   Mountains in Argentina. Red sprites take only a fraction of a second to
   occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from
   the side.

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