Rare red sprites captured on video over northern Italy

Observatoire géophysique, Val Terbi
Fri, 14 Oct 2016 20:13 UTC

© OGVT - Observatoire géophysique, Val Terbi

Red Sprites captured on film by Swiss observers over northern Italy

© OGVT - Observatoire géophysique, Val Terbi

© OGVT - Observatoire géophysique, Val Terbi

Recorded at Montsevelier (Val Terbi), Switzerland

Camera: Sony ILCE-7SM2
Lens: Samyang 85mm F/1.4 Aspherical
Format: 1080p30

Comment: Website Space Weather noted a geomagnetic storm on Friday 14th October 2016 (though it began early on Thursday 13th):

'GEOMAGNETIC STORM UNDERWAY: Auroras are dancing around the Arctic Circle on Oct. 14th as Earth slowly exits the magnetized wake of a CME that struck two days ago. Currently, geomagnetic storms are flickering between categories G1 and G2.

WHAT'S NEXT? On Oct. 15th, another disturbance is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field. This time it's coming from a coronal hole -- a gap in the sun's atmosphere from which solar wind flows:

© NASA Solar Dynamics Observatory

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory took this picture on Oct. 13th. It shows the dark coronal hole pointing almost directly at Earth. At the leading edge of the emerging solar wind stream is a co-rotating interaction region (CIR)--that is, a transition zone between slow- and fast-moving solar wind. Shock waves and density gradients in CIRs often do a good job sparking auroras, so when it arrives on Oct. 15th polar auroras are likely'

More documentation of this increasing phenomenon:

• Rare 'red sprites' burst out of supercell storm in Texas
• Rare red sprites photographed over southern Arizona
• Photographs of rare red 'lightning' sprites taken in New Mexico and Europe
• Origin of mysterious jellyfish lightning 'sprites' revealed

For a deeper understanding of the changes occurring on the planet read Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection by Pierre Lescaudron and Laura Knight-Jadczyk