The dramatic glow of the atmosphere and the storm

Last week a large storm front passed to the North of Texas (USA). Thomas Ashcraft saw and was able to capture, then literally shuddered at the sky.

"I photographed a dramatic display of mesospheric gravity waves," he says.

The red light in the sky — its glow of the atmosphere is weak, such polar lights phenomenon caused by chemical reactions in the upper atmosphere. These reactions start in the daytime when the atmosphere is left by strong UV radiation of the Sun. In a very dark night, we see the afterglow, painted in green with oxygen atoms by the height of 90-100 km, or, in this case, in red, is responsible for it, the molecules of the hydroxyl at the height of 86-87 km.

The ripples were caused by the storm. Gravitational wave propagating from strong storms can cause glow with a dramatic wavy structure.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»