红色精灵的高解析影像

2023年10月2日

Sprite Lightning in High Definition
Image Credit & Copyright: Nicolas Escurat

Explanation: Sometimes lightning occurs out near space. One such lightning type is red sprite lightning, which has only been photographed and studied on Earth over the past 25 years. The origins of all types of lightning remain topics for research, and scientists are still trying to figure out why red sprite lightning occurs at all. 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. Featured here is an extraordinarily high-resolution image of a group of red sprites. This image is a single frame lasting only 1/25th of a second from a video taken above Castelnaud Castle in Dordogne, France, about three weeks ago. The sprites quickly vanished — no sprites were visible even on the very next video frame.

Tomorrow’s picture: eye in the sky

红色精灵的高解析影像
影像提供与版权: Nicolas Escurat

说明: 有时候闪电会出现在太空的边缘附近。红色精灵闪电就是这样的例证之一，而在过去的25年之中，它一直是地球各处人们拍摄和研究的标的。其实所有类型的闪电之起源，至今皆仍然是研究的课题，因此科学家正致力于了解为何红色精灵闪电会发生。研究已证实，在强烈的正云对地闪电之后，红色精灵可能会以80公里高空、大小约100米的电离空气球为起点，然后以10分之1光速的高速向下伸展，紧接着出现成群向上飞射的电离球。上面这幅撷取自3星期前摄于法国多尔多涅省卡斯泰尔诺堡的一部影片之超高解析度定格，积分时间为1/25秒，所呈现的是一群红色精灵的高解析影像。这群红色精灵转瞬即逝，下一个影片定格就只能见到微弱的光晕。