Two sprites and the Pleiades in the sky over Czech Republic

This week in the Czech Republic Martin Popek photographed a pair of red sprites that appeared in the sky approximately 375 km from the border of Czech Republic and Germany. According to Popeka, as if they were drawn to the star Pleiades cluster and was a very beautiful sight. "Season of sprites has begun!" — he commented on your photo.

For many years Popek photographed hundreds of sprites from his private Observatory in Nejdek (a town in the district of Karlovy vary). However, these sprites are very unusual, at least from the time of its appearance. As explained Popek, he took photos of 4 of April, usually, however, the sprites appear in late spring or summer, during thunderstorm season.

The sprites referred to as "space lightning", they appear in the upper atmosphere as the Aurora and noctilucent clouds. Unlike ordinary lightning that descend from thunderstorms, sprites fly up. Although their physical nature very little is known, some researchers believe that sprites are linked to cosmic rays: subatomic particles from deep space get into the upper layers of Earth's atmosphere, producing secondary electrons, resulting in the sky lit red lightning unusual shape.

The cosmic rays are especially interesting during this period. Recent measurements from the stratospheric probes and NASA spacecraft show that cosmic radiation is increasing. This is largely associated with the downturn of solar activity during the present cycle, the pressure of the solar wind is weakening, allowing cosmic rays to penetrate into the inner Solar system. If the version of the link sprites and cosmic rays is correct, in the coming years we will see much more "cosmic lightning".

Translated by «Yandex.Translator»