An astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has released this stunning photo of a “Blue Starter” – a rare type of lightning striking upwards.
ESA’s Thomas Basket of the European Space Agency – one of 10 people on the space station, now 400km above Earth – took the picture on September 9, but recently uploaded it online.
The subtle blue light seen in Europe during thunderstorms is a “transient glow phenomenon”, also known as lightning in the upper atmosphere.
This unexpectedly bright light usually forms about 60 miles above our planet in a massive thunderstorm, lasting just a few milliseconds.
Image posted by Thomas Pesket Online shows the phenomenon of subtle blue transient light in the upper atmosphere of Europe
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Blue Jets Dawn Blue Starter
The blue jet is a lightning discharge that reaches the stratosphere.
The blue starter is shorter and brighter than the blue jet, but pointed upwards.
“The blue starter looks like a blue jet,” says Dr. winner b. Professor of Electrical Engineering at Pascoe, Penn State.
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The newly released photos are single images taken over long intervals.
“Timeline images in Europe show thunder with unstable light phenomena in the upper atmosphere,” Baskett said. Flickr.
“This is a very rare event and we have a facility outside the European Columbus Laboratory dedicated to observing this shining light.
“The interesting thing about this lightning bolt is that it was only observed by pilots decades ago and scientists are not convinced that it actually exists.”
At 357.5 feet wide and 239.4 feet long, the ISS completes a complete orbit around Earth every 90 minutes.
Pesquet – who is currently on the ISS’ second visit – said it would be great to have such a shot while flying over the equator, where there will be more thunderstorms.
Meanwhile, although the basket doesn’t specify exactly what the light event is, it’s probably a blue burst — a lightning discharge that passes through the stratosphere.
Thomas Baskett, pictured here before the ISS’s second arrival in 2020, is currently one of 10 people on the space station.
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The International Space Station (ISS, pictured), 357.5 feet wide and 239.4 feet long, completes a complete orbit around Earth every 90 minutes.
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It can also be a blue starter – an event closely related to Jet Blue, except that they are short and bright.
“The blue starter looks like a blue jet,” says Dr. winner b. Professor of Electrical Engineering at Pascoe, Penn State.
MailOnline has contacted NASA regarding the final classification of the event.
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Many of the transient light events that occur on Earth during thunderstorms are described by many beautiful names, including elves, spirits, and trolls – but these are shorthand for technical terms.
On Earth, elves, sprites, and trolls turn red when they interact with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere.
The late experimental physicist John Wickler accidentally discovered the Sprite in 1989 while helping to test a new low-light video camera.
On Earth, sprites and elves appear red from contact with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere.
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They appear as vertical lines with thunder at altitudes of about 24 to 55 miles (40 to 90 km) and resemble jellyfish running on the ground with long stalks.
Although they normally turn bright red on Earth, they will appear a bright blue color on Jupiter, as images from NASA’s Juno spacecraft showed last year.
Meanwhile, angels appear as flat disks that shine up to 200 miles from the sky in the upper atmosphere of the earth.
It happens and is above a cloud-ground energetic lightning strike with positive or negative polarity
Confirmed by cameras on the ISS in 1992, the Elf appears above a strong cloud-earth flash with a positive or negative polarity.
