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NAKED EYE SPRITE STORMS: Have you ever seen a sprite? Some say it's impossible. The strange and fleeting forms of red lightning materialize above thunderheads, then disappear again in less time than it takes to blink. Yet this week veteran sprite chaser Paul Smith says he did see them: "I've watched a number with my bare eyes over the last two big storms in Kansas."
Above: Naked-eye sprites over Kansas on April 28th. Credit: Paul Smith.
"It has been an amazing experience that, quite honestly, has left me somewhat emotional," says Smith. "I am now convinced that before the days of light pollution, these were observed more often than we know."
Sprites are an exotic form of electricity that leap up from storm clouds instead of down like ordinary lightning. Although sprites have been reported for at least a century, many scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were accidentally photographed by researchers from the University of Minnesota and confirmed by video cameras onboard the space shuttle.
Smith has been chasing and photographing sprites for years in the stormy Great Plains around Oklahoma and Kansas. "This is the first time I have seen them with my unaided eyes," he says. "I believe that these were unusually bright." Here are two examples of clusters he caught simultaneously with his eyes and camera.
His eyes registered fewer details than his camera--but he still saw plenty. "The jellyfish shapes I saw had a fiery orange/red color," he adds. "I didn't see the bottoms of the tendrils, but I had an impression of the heads and beads. Storm chasers to the west of me were also viewing with their naked eyes."
The underlying physics of sprites is still not fully understood. Some models hold that cosmic rays help them get started by creating conductive paths in the atmosphere. If cosmic rays do indeed spark sprites, now is a good time to look for them because cosmic rays are nearing a Space Age high.
More examples of naked-eye sprites may be found on Smith's Facebook page.
LOOKING FOR LIGHTNING IN THE STRATOSPHERE: Yesterday, the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a very low frequency (VLF) radio to the edge of space. Its mission: to detect lightning at record-setting altitudes. Designed and built by a team at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL), the sensor ascended 34,516 meters (113,241 ft) above the snow-capped Sierra Nevada and White Mountains of central California:
VLF radio antennas can be very large, typically many meters wide and definitely too big for ballooning. Engineers at APL designed an ultracompact antenna that could fit on a balloon platform. Shown above in flight, the innovative antenna is sensitive to radio bursts in the frequency range 15 kHz to 55 kHz. By monitoring such emissions, it can pick up atmospheric lightning happening across the entire USA.
This is the first time an antenna of this type has been flown to the stratosphere. The researchers, led by Alisha Hunt, hope to use these high-altitude observations to improve models of radio noise caused by lightning (an issue of importance to telecommunications) and maybe even detect new types of lightning. Hunt is reducing the data now, so stay tuned!
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MOTHER'S DAY IS ONLY 2 WEEKS AWAY: Are you looking for an out-of-this world Mother's Day gift? Consider this: Every time the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launch a cosmic ray balloon, they include something extra in the payload--something mom will love:
Every item in the Earth to Sky Store has flown to the edge of space and comes with a greeting card showing the item in flight. The interior of the card tells the story of the gift's journey from launch to landing. Mom-satisfaction guaranteed!
Far Out Gifts: Earth to Sky Store
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