The first spring sprite was lit over Oklahoma

High above the Earth, strange and wonderful lightning dancing on the border with outer space. Scientists call such lightning sprites. They are red, fleeting, and usually appear in groups. Wednesday, April 17, Paul Smith photographed the first spring sprites over Anadarko, Oklahoma.

"I got these sprites from thunderstorms at a distance of about 200 kilometers. It's just one group. There were a lot more," said Smith. Because the sprites associated with thunderstorms, they usually occur in late spring and summer. Season of storms — season of the sprites.

Oklahoma is at the epicenter of the so-called "Sprite Alley" corridor, passing through the Great plains of the United States, where severe thunderstorms produce a lot of upward lightning.

Although the sprites were noticed in the sky for at least a century, most scientists did not believe in their existence until 1989, when they were fixed camera on Board the space Shuttle.

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»