Sprites & Jets above Thunderstorms

[Lightning_Lee]

Finally got my Sprite
...long time trying too!

It's a large carrot Sprite but in the image just to the left of the carrot is small faint companion column sprite. The bottom has been obscured by the cirrus... but I don't need to tell astro-shooters what a pain in the backside cloud cover is!!!

Captured above a thunderstorm west of Townsville, NQ. on Monday night. Was lucky to have scored it as I was concentrating my efforts on the cell to the left(south west) in the image but the parent bolt that created the Sprite(s) most likely occurred in the cell to the right(not visible).

Also attached to this post is a Blue Jet capture by a close mate Jason Harris(Orebound).


Taken over a thunderstorm from Broome, WA. Friday night. This is one of seven that the storm produced and he managed to capture them all, I totally take my hat to him too because that is very hard to do!

[MrB (Simon)]

Awesome! Congrats.
I've thought about trying to catch these but still haven't given it a go.
I can see the sprite but can't make out the column.

[SkyViking (Rolf)]

Wow they are some of the best sprite/jet photos I have seen!

[Lightning_Lee]

Yeah jpeg conversion tends to blur it(the column sprite) out, it's tiny in comparison to the carrot.
Pretty much straight above the dragons nose in my logo, between the cirrus clouds- looks like a tiny red smear in the jpeg unfortunately but you can try this higher res version if you are interested:
http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...psc25b8a3c.jpg

[rogerg (Roger)]

Wow, neat!

[cometcatcher (Kevin)]

Congratulations Lee! Many more to follow I hope. Which camera did you use?

I finally got a full spectrum camera, not the 60Da I was hoping for but a converted Nikon D70s. I still have to get a wide angle lens for it.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Totally cool.

[MrB (Simon)]

Originally Posted by Lightning_Lee

Yeah jpeg conversion tends to blur it(the column sprite) out, it's tiny in comparison to the carrot.
Pretty much straight above the dragons nose in my logo, between the cirrus clouds- looks like a tiny red smear in the jpeg unfortunately but you can try this higher res version if you are interested:
http://i1124.photobucket.com/albums/...psc25b8a3c.jpg

Thanks for the link, can see it easily now

[Lightning_Lee]

Cheers for the kind words everyone!

Been at it a long time, had a few near misses earlier this season so I was happy when this one stuck... so to speak.
I am personally gob smacked by Jason's Jet captures, have been up close and personal a few times with these wonders of nature but haven't captured one yet!

Here's hoping Kevin! Storms are one thing to find but the right conditions are the killer, LOL! Shot with a 600D mod(LP2 removed) & a 50mm f/1.8. I want to invest in a wider angle lens with a nice wide aperture, but for now the 50mm will do. Need a revamp on the video and radio system too, was a shame I left the Watec and VLF at home this night but I would've been still setting it up when this one went off because it's so tedious!