Three photographers in New Zealand captured impressive images of red sprites (“red demons”), or otherwise red lightning, one of the rarest light phenomena in the world, during which bright purple flashes appear in the sky.
New Zealand photographer Tom Rae and Spanish photographers Dan Zafra and Jose Cantabrana began photographing the Milky Way over the Ōmārama Clay Rocks in the South Island on October 11 when they stumbled upon this unusual event.
The photographers thought they would be lucky if they had clear skies that night, but it was an “unforgettable” night for them, Rae told the Guardian website.
Red sprites are bursts of electrical energy in the upper atmosphere, produced by thunderstorms. Unlike lightning bolts that shoot towards the ground, red sprites shoot upwards into the upper atmosphere, creating forms that look like columns, carrots or even jellyfish. The first photo of a red sprite was taken – accidentally – in 1989, by a team at the University of Minnesota.
They are so short – lasting just a millisecond – that they are rarely visible to the naked eye, but Rae got lucky. “I happened to be looking directly at one when it happened – just a perfect coincidence looking at the right part of the sky and I saw a brief red flash,” he said.
Observing the phenomena was a dream for Rae, an award-winning nightscape photographer. “It looks like you’re seeing something that’s not real, it’s very ethereal… it’s this very deep red color that’s there for a split second, so it’s really interesting to see.”
Capturing a red sprite requires a mastery of technical photography, as well as an understanding of science and creative inspiration, Rae said. “It’s a really complicated kind of photography that’s also very rewarding.”
Zafra said it was one of the “most special nights” of his life. “I could see the Milky Way shining over the horizon while these huge red beams of light danced over a storm hundreds of kilometers away,” he said.
“It was one of those moments where you know you’re witnessing something you’ll probably never see again,” he concluded.
Photo credit: Tom Rae, Dan Zafra
Source: Skai
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