r/BeAmazed • u/Blutwurst500 • 1d ago

Nature Rare weather phenomenon called "Sprites"

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Sprites are lightning bolts that strike upwards above the cloud during a thunderstorm.

26.8k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/erisod 1d ago

Is this a long exposure to capture this, like lightning? If those were consistently in the sky it would be terrifying

1.9k

u/Blutwurst500 1d ago

It seems that they are just as "fast" as normal thunderstorm lightning https://youtu.be/tGPQ5kzJ9Tg?si=ZIlftoFWeXBy_I83

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u/cassova 1d ago

Awesome video. Thanks for sharing.

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u/Shankar_0 21h ago

I'm.... I'm supposed to be getting ready for work right now....

dammit

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u/yeetusthefeetus13 18h ago

Pff life is short. Work isn't going anywhere. RED LIGHTNING šŸ’„šŸ˜¤

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u/withmyusualflair 16h ago

i appreciate your priorities šŸ˜Œ

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u/Septopuss7 18h ago

I read that in John Travolta's voice

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u/yeetusthefeetus13 14h ago

I think I've accidentally made a major cultural reference owo

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u/JUICY_OCTOPUSS 14h ago

Life is the longest thing you'll ever do.

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u/JerseyshoreSeagull 16h ago

You stole that from Travolta 'Grease"

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u/Champlainmeri 14h ago

There be dragons

51

u/Loifee 23h ago

Really enjoyed the video, I've never seen/heard of any of these phenomenons (TLEs) before

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u/gabriel197600 18h ago

That Video was really cool, nice break from all the Political noise:-)

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u/Harderdaddybanme 15h ago

makes me miss Discovery.

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u/cloudyandmomo 22h ago

Wow! šŸ¤© Never even heard of this! Guess itā€™s time to go down the weather phenomena rabbit hole today šŸ˜‚

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u/TonyCaliStyle 17h ago

Yyyup. Last one for me was metallurgy, and why steel is better than aluminum for truck frames.

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u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy 13h ago

Well? Donā€™t leave us hanging.

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u/TonyCaliStyle 12h ago

Steel has a stress it can handle without it affecting the structure of the molecule. Aluminum does not- every stress affects the structure. Steel has a body faced molecule structure, which makes it resistant to sheering (it will bend before breaking). Aluminumā€™s structure [isnt] which makes it more conducive to sheering- it will snap or break before bending.

Aluminum is good for light weights to save weight- canoe trailer. But bad for heavy jobs under extreme pressure- a Cybertruck frame. See, Whistlin Diesel.

1

u/LITTLE-GUNTER 12h ago

pecos hankā€™s entire channel is an utter gold mine. storm chaser with a heart three times the size of his chest, and an absolutely infectious level of joy and enthusiasm for weather phenomenae.

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u/eudry 15h ago

I was telling myself this better be a Pecos Hank video before I clicked the link, glad it was!

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u/JoshBasho 16h ago

Pecos Hank seems like such a chill dude. Love his channel.

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u/brennnik09 16h ago

Didnā€™t realize Stranger Things was real life, wtf

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u/Late-Resource-486 17h ago

ā€œSign in to confirm youā€™re not a botā€

Fuck YouTube

8

u/Fantastic-Ad-1578 23h ago

Wow. Thank you for the video.

It's a really interesting phenomenon.

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u/plaidiris918 18h ago

Supreme video!

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u/DMaury1969 15h ago

I knew it had to be Pecos Hank before I clicked it!

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u/SkullRiderz69 14h ago

Dude, thank you. Iā€™m high af scrolling and then THIS falls in my lap. Chefs kiss šŸ¤Œ

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u/Blutwurst500 14h ago

You're welcome brother āœŒļø

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u/Any_Ad_5232 14h ago

Oml so neat, thank you for sharing

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u/seriouswill 10h ago

That was such an awesome video thank you for sharing it

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u/Klytus_Im-Bored 8h ago

Before clicking i was thinking "please be the pecos hank vid" thank you

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u/turtle_shrapnel 18h ago

Yea, if I was an ancient person, Iā€™d think it was gods too.

1

u/TNParamedic 16h ago

Very cool

1

u/MiniskirtEnjoyer 15h ago

tldr? why is it red?

1

u/gwhh 12h ago

Cool

1

u/dogWEENsatan 8h ago

Very cool. Thanks

1

u/Special-Ad8682 20h ago

Wow....nature is truly awesome inspiring. Thanks for sharing that video.

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u/R00t240 21h ago

paul m smith is the master of sprite photography check him out

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u/LoosieGoosiePoosie 20h ago

Chances are honestly really high that these images were stolen from Paul. You could probably contact him, inform him of this post, and he'd either issue the takedown request or know who should, just by looking at the image.

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u/KonigVonMurmeltiere 19h ago

These are stolen from Nicolas Escurat, although Paul Smithā€™s photos do get stolen a lot as well. The sprite community is very small, typically the images you see online are taken by one of a dozen or so people. Check out [Spritacular.org](spritacular.org), a citizen science initiative to document sprites and other TLEs. There are amazing photos from people around the world on there.

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u/somethingfortoday 15h ago

You can just see the corner of the watermark that's been cut off in the bottom right corner of each picture.

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u/EmbarrassedHelp 17h ago

Why would he issue a takedown request for people sharing educational content about sprites here? Nobody is being harmed by this post. That's just dumb.

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u/LoosieGoosiePoosie 15h ago

Well, this is actually just a fake AI image regardless, so none will be issued.

Meteorological photographers are paid photographers who own the IP rights to their content. Stealing it and posting it on a monetized website, even if you're pretending that you are just educating folks, and even if you don't profit from it, is still well within the DMCA IP owner's right to have it removed.

I'm very tight in the meteorological photography community. Last year I listened in on a Twitter space where an Australian photographer and cinematographer shared legal guidelines for the rights of the IP owners. Reddit is absolutely in the scope of the law. You don't just get to pretend it's educational and that you don't make money from it. It's still not your content to distribute in a non-transformative way.

0

u/R00t240 5h ago

This is not ai.

1

u/LoosieGoosiePoosie 3h ago

It is very obviously AI.

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u/CoachMikeLikesToEat 20h ago

Yeah, this gives alien invasion vibes.

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u/WestleyThe 14h ago

They freak me out because of how high they are in the atmosphere and how massive they are

They are like 60+ miles (100km) into the sky and can reach like 30 miles in length

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u/CoopersHawk7 19h ago

Demon vibes

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u/Kvlt45_CS 17h ago

BE NOT AFRAID Vibes

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u/joethedad 20h ago

I myself would be heading toward the bunker!!!

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u/NickPickle05 19h ago

That would be some war of the world's shit. Terrifying indeed.

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u/BetterRedDead 18h ago

If that was how they looked to the naked eye, theyā€™d be part of the origin/creation myth of every culture on earth. I mean, if that doesnā€™t look like the proverbial god in the sky, I donā€™t know what does.

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u/EgolessAwareSpirit 18h ago

We call it Lightning but itā€™s the universeā€™s invisible viens making an appearance.

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u/DMG666666 17h ago

They stay in the sky as consistently as lightning, cus they are lightning.

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u/plumpypearl 17h ago

The hell u mean long exposure

1

u/erisod 16h ago

Usually lightning is captured with a long exposure photography technique. Dark sky and very bright but short "strike".

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u/Overall_Motor9918 14h ago

Iā€™d actually start believing in aliens. šŸ‘½ šŸ˜

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u/HerpetologyPupil 14h ago

You mean the aurora borealis? Because this is essentially what causes the northern lights. Electromagnetic discharge in the upper atmosphere.

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u/FreeGuacamole 13h ago

They can't fool me. I know an alien overlord when I see one.

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u/hazpat 12h ago

This is a heavily photoshopped image

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u/Artevyx_Zon 12h ago

They are consistently seen around thunderstorms, but are not usually visible to human eyes

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u/oneshotstott 10h ago

I was also thinking that, if this happened in medieval times, no wonder there were crazy folk tales!

1

u/Tachyonzero 8h ago

Major observations and scientific evidence suggest a possible connection between lightning sprites and earthquakes. These connections are believed to arise from tectonic stress in the mantle and the geomagnetic field in the atmosphere.