These pics are over a year old but I thought I'd put them up anyway as it's quite rare to observe them.
The vertical carrot like features in these frames from my Mintron video camera are Red Sprites. Sprites are associated with lightning and occur in the upper atmosphere. You may remember video from one of the Shuttle missions.
At first I thought these things in my frames were lens flare but the carrot like shapes in the last 2 frames helped identify them.
Sprites are best observed above a distant severe storm where from the observers point of view the sky is clear.
I never saw them with the naked eye, only captured them on a few video frames after a lightning flash.
Anyone else seen or photographed anything strange during a storm?
I second that wow! Did you see the series on mega-lightning on foxtel? They had some great video/shots of sprites - particularly the ones taken from Taiwan, awesome! They say they can tower up to 15 klm into space! weird how they werent truely discovered/acknowledged till the 1980's 90's???? although airline/airforce pilots had always insisted they existed I think. Have you ever seen any naked eye at all?
I also like the phenomenom of ball lightning - which i believe Victoria/Melbourne is the capitol of in Oz - i have friend who saw one in melbourne when he was a kid - it travelled through his house and down the hallway very slowly - i have heard a few first hand accounts of ball lightning from people who lived in Vic - any one out there got a ball lightning story? They are reputed to act as if they have there own intelligence!!???
Cheers
Kearn
Nope, never seen the Sprites with naked eye. My vidcam is extra red sensitive too which probably made it easier for it to pick up. At the same time I cad a "normal" colour camera running and it didn't pick them up either.
My mother and aunt told me stories of ball lightning when they were kids out near Finch Hatton. They reckon these orange plasma balls would run along the railway lines when they came out of school on stormy afternoons. Apparently it was a common sight for them, but I've never seen anything like that.
Never seen them naked, but I do remember the Astronauts filming them years ago. Looked really spectacular from space. 'For every action...............', eh! L.
Sorry, did a little google on sprites and they actually can go much higher into space than i wrote! that show did say they went to the edge of space as well.
Apparently they are very faint the webpages said, to see visually (as you know), the normal bright lightning associated with the sprites can ruin your night vision temporarily it says, long enough to ruin the sprites anyway (from a distant thunderstorm edge-on). but as you say the normal camera didnt pick up anything - very bright sprites seem to be much rarer?.
My grandfather saw the min-min lights from outback qld, a few times, thats quite different to ball lightning i would think?. there is a good webpage maybe? explaining these lights in that part of the world http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/stories/s818193.htm But he said one time a pair were following the road coming towards him at night, he thought they were just oncoming truck headlights of course, after a while, when just as they got close, they started to diverge and swapping positions as if it was a truck crashing and rolling, but then suddenly went of the road as a pair off into the bush and dissappeared. he stopped there was no crashed vehicle, just the lights dissappearing into the bush.
Kearn
I have never seen it myself but about 5 years ago a lady in Ballarat told me a ball of light entered their Caravan in a Ballarat Caravan park through the fly screen door, jumped about for about 3 seconds at extremely high speed and then exited back out through the fly screen door! Her and her daughter freaked when they saw it.
There was one near here in the paper a couple of years back when a ball of lightening flew rapidly at a farmer circled near him and them broke into two. One peice went into the ground and the other shot behind his house and dissappeared. (insert 'Twilight Zone' music here)
Last edited by ballaratdragons; 23-06-2005 at 11:42 PM.
We met Ern Mainka, completely by chance, at the total solar eclipse in the sa outback, he parked right next to us in fact on the Stuart highway, and we got chatting and told us about ball lightning, he showed us a photo album/porfolio including the pics of ball lightning had just recently obtained. He was a very genuine bloke and I believe him completely (and a b-l-o-o-d-y good photographer!). Here is his page with his pics from Victoria, the only known pics from Vic (i think) and at that time only one of 5 amateur shots in the world (I think?). http://www.ernmphotography.com/Pages...ning_ErnM.html
Kearn
EDIT: hey my first b l o o d y got erased in my first post - so i did it again hehe is this censorship? i hope that words not flagged too?
Last edited by fringe_dweller; 24-06-2005 at 12:21 AM.
Hi Kevin, yes on that show they said there was a whole "zoo" of phenomena associated with lightning
I wouldnt of thought the (b l o o d y) word was a serious swear word?? - i mean is damn banned too (this will test it) they should give us a list of the banned words LOL! I have heard a few PM's say b l o o d y on tv???!!
I have to make a correction - I stuffed up my poor old grandads min min lights story!! about an hour after I typed it I remembered it properly!!! arrgg, well it has been more than 20 years since I have heard it - so just for the record - it will bother me if I dont correct it - I know it probably doesnt matter anyway, and sorry if it bores anyone.
He was driving on one of those lonely highways near Winton at night and he noticed what he thought were truck lights following him at a distance, in his rear view mirror (i had the story in reverse!!). This went on for some time, eventually he decided to slow down and let them pass, but the head lights would just slow down with him and stay at the same distance behind, wether he sped up or slowed down. Eventually (somehow? cant remember this bit properly) they caught up and he thought they were overtaking, but just as they got close the headlights converged and tumbled as if the truck was crashing and rolling right behind him. Then I think in fact they went over the top of his vehicle and then dissappeared into the bush. ahh feel better now - again so sorry!! and sorry to hijack your thread Kevin!
Cheers
Kearn
Last edited by fringe_dweller; 24-06-2005 at 01:53 PM.
Nice thread guys good to see some people interested in strange things other than myself. My friend had a story of Ball lightning, his neighbour has had it go through her house, went through the house and then hit the back door making a pop sound and made a slight mark on the door. I was a bit skeptical of the story but the lady was 80yrs old and I doubt she was after fame and fortune over the event. Quite interesting as it sounds I was there investigating a lightning strike which hit near her Fence. The Ball lightning had happened about 15yrs earlier though.
Another oddity is running lights through in the ocean. A couple of times my Wife and I had been at Semaphore Beach here in Adelaide watching storms off in the distance and we had noticed strange lights running through the water about 50m off shore. The lights moved very quickly and looked like they were underwater. Moving left and right and right and left, very strange.
Ken and Andrew thanks for excellent stories Andrew i have never heard of the running lights of Semaphore, are they well known and documented? Ken love your red writing in your tag - i am waiting for that novel - is it going to be like 'War and Peace' in size?
Kearn
onya mate how good is that eh!! did you submit that or did they approach you? seems a bit after the fact thats all - either way I am seriously impressed - but wheres the awesome vid!?
remember folks! you saw it first here on channel IIS!
PS I am getting spam in chinese these days!
Onya Kevin, Its good to see so many Aussies featuring on Universe today.
With the Wet Season & its associated storms almost upon us I will have to look out for these sprites.
I have worked out near Winton, and have even been out with a few mates on a one of the escarpments to look for Min-Min lights, but never saw any !
Others in the mining camp we were in had seen them though, so thats why we went looking.
I submitted the pics shortly after they were taken but the site took over a week to put them up. I guess he has quite a backlog of submitted pictures to get through.
I'd love to see/photograph min min lights, ball lightning or anything of that nature. Fascinating stuff.
L.
is this censorship? i hope that words not flagged too?
LOL! I have heard a few PM's say b l o o d y on tv???!!
about an hour after I typed it I remembered it properly!!! arrgg, well it has been more than 20 years since I have heard it - so just for the record - it will bother me if I dont correct it - I know it probably doesnt matter anyway, and sorry if it bores anyone.
