Photography

SorellaLaBefana

(469 posts) Tue Dec 16, 2025, 05:39 AM Yesterday

Stopped Time in Antipodal Night

... On the left is the Andromeda galaxy, an object that is older than humanity and will last billions of years into the future...

On the right is a red sprite, a type of lightning that lasts a fraction of a second and occurs above violent thunderstorms. Red sprites were verified as real atmospheric phenomena only about 35 years ago.

The tree in the center is a boab, which may live for as long as a thousand years. Boab trees grow naturally in Australia and Africa and are known for being able to store large amounts of water: up to 100,000 liters...

https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap251216.html

The fleeting flash of Sprites (mere milliseconds) were long reported by sailors, explorers, farmers and—much more recently—by plane pilots. They were, almost equally long, dismissed as fanciful Sailor's Tales.

In the 1920s CTR Wilson—Nobel Prize recipient (for invention of the Cloud Chamber)—hypothesized the possible existence of such phenomena. Sprites were finally caught on film in 1989 and, since then, have been recorded at least thousands of times.

I've not caught one yet! Perhaps you will !!

3 replies

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Highlight:

Stopped Time in Antipodal Night (Original Post) SorellaLaBefana Yesterday OP

Incredible picture! markodochartaigh Yesterday #1

Been able to A Badger Yesterday #2

Socotra jfz9580m Yesterday #3

markodochartaigh

(4,848 posts)

1. Incredible picture!

Reply to SorellaLaBefana (Original post)

Tue Dec 16, 2025, 06:30 AM

Yesterday

Boab is a term for the Australian member of the baobab genus. They are related to the cotton plant.

A Badger

(41 posts)

2. Been able to

Reply to SorellaLaBefana (Original post)

Tue Dec 16, 2025, 06:45 AM

Yesterday

...catch the 'St. Elmo's Fire' thing (1976, on trading schooner, pre-storm, off coast of Trinidad) and 'ball lightning' (1982, so. of Madison).
'Sprites' are a tough-y, though.

Thanks for the grab!

jfz9580m

(16,486 posts)

3. Socotra

Reply to SorellaLaBefana (Original post)

Tue Dec 16, 2025, 07:05 AM

Yesterday

That looks like one of those trees you see in the Island of Socotra.

I used to enjoy looking at pictures of Socotra around 2015-2016 when I was younger but much heavier of heart. Those trees used to somehow cheer me up. They look so weird and hauntingly alien almost...

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