'Sprites'
Taken by Mike Bradbury on November 13, 2013 @ Chandler, Arizona USA
Click photo for larger image
  Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS REBEL T2i
Exposure Time: 4/5
Aperture: f/4.0
ISO: 3200
Date Taken: 2013:12:18 14:51:53
  
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Details:
Just shooting pics of the night sky towards Jupiter.
Photographer's website:
No URL provided.
Comments
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I am curious about these sprites. It is my understanding that sprites are usually red. In fact, I cannot find any details about green sprites. What would cause these to appear green and purple?

This is from Wikipedia:Sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above thunderstorm clouds, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a quite varied range of visual shapes flickering in the night sky. They are triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between an underlying thundercloud and the ground.

Sprites appear as luminous reddish-orange flashes. They often occur in clusters within the altitude range 50–90 km (31–56 mi) above the Earths surface


I am very curious why these would appear green. I am in California and we have had a lot of green airglow, as well.
Posted by Cosima88 2013-12-19 10:03:02
Not sure what you have captured but pretty sure theyre not sprites?
Posted by 1simb2 2013-12-19 19:58:40
the sprites seem to be in a position where internal lens flare may appear if it were the result of the architectural lighting in front of the houses an just out of frame.
Posted by dougr855 2015-05-16 15:53:11
The reason these sprites appear green is because they are not really sprites. I see this phenomenon myself when taking night pictures of cities or buildings. What is this? Two possibilities: 1. It is a lens flare caused by lights low on the horizon of the field of view. 2. Lights reflecting of an atmospheric event, like fog, smog, or a cloud. Recently, while photographing the northern lights, I saw similar things in my pictures, so I tried changing the camera angle, and they disappeared. If you notice, the angle is pointed high, so I would guess this is the first example, a lens flare. Nice pic though.
Posted by PhotoGrafix 2015-06-23 03:57:15
 
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