¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]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 January 4 IFRAME: [2]https://www.youtube.com/embed/zS_XgF9i8tc?rel=0 Sprite Lightning at 100,000 Frames Per Second Video Credit & Copyright: Matthew G McHarg, Jacob L Harley, [3]Thomas Ashcraft, Hans Nielsen Explanation: What causes [4]sprite lightning? Mysterious bursts of light in the sky that momentarily [5]resemble [6]gigantic jellyfish have been [7]recorded for over 30 years, but apart from a general association with positive cloud-to-ground lightning, their root cause remains unknown. Some thunderstorms have them -- most don't. Recently, however, [8]high speed videos are better detailing how [9]sprites actually develop. The [10]featured video, captured in mid-2019, is fast enough -- at about 100,000 frames per second -- to [11]time-resolve several sprite "bombs" dropping and developing into the multi-pronged streamers that [12]appear on [13]still images. Unfortunately, the [14]visual clues provided by [15]videos [16]like [17]these do not fully resolve the sprite origins [18]mystery. High [19]speed vidoes do [20]indicate to some researchers, though, that sprites are more likely to occur when [21]plasma irregularities exist in the [22]upper atmosphere. Astrophysicists: [23]Browse 2,300+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library Tomorrow's picture: it's a galaxy __________________________________________________________________ [24]< | [25]Archive | [26]Submissions | [27]Index | [28]Search | [29]Calendar | [30]RSS | [31]Education | [32]About APOD | [33]Discuss | [34]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [35]Robert Nemiroff ([36]MTU) & [37]Jerry Bonnell ([38]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [39]Specific rights apply. [40]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [41]ASD at [42]NASA / [43]GSFC & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://www.youtube.com/embed/zS_XgF9i8tc?rel=0 3. mailto:%20ashcraft%20at%20heliotown%20dot%20com 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning) 5. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/BigRed-Sprite.jpg 6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jellyfish#mediaviewer/File:Largelionsmanejellyfish.jpg 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150821.html 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=myHDv3Xn2_A 9. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=78487 10. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WY3CV_Q4tGk 11. https://www.flickr.com/photos/pennstatelive/13943453417/sizes/l 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130522.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap191008.html 14. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/30/science/on-the-hunt-for-a-sprite-on-a-midsummers-night.html 15. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATmpgZoMRM0 16. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3StAXEbGSM 17. https://youtu.be/zS_XgF9i8tc 18. https://image.shutterstock.com/image-photo/curious-confused-cute-dog-looks-260nw-714650422.jpg 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120723.html 20. http://www.polaris.psu.edu/story/314975/2014/05/07/research/sprites-form-plasma-irregularities-lower-ionosphere 21. http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2014/140507/ncomms4740/abs/ncomms4740.html 22. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/science/mos-upper-atmosphere.html 23. http://ascl.net/ 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210103.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 28. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 32. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 33. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210104 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210105.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 36. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 37. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 38. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 39. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 40. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 41. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/ 43. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 44. http://www.mtu.edu/