My first capture of an elve. Elves are the result of EMPs (electromagnetic pulse) produced by powerful lightning. When the EMP blast strikes the ionosphere it ionized a very large region (~500km) in turn causing it to glow red. The donut shape of elves is due to the propagation characteristics of the EMP blast. Elves are the most common TLE's, but because they are so short lived, less than 1ms, it is not easy to detect them with standard CCTV equipment. Telescope: - Camera: Watec 902H with 16mm 1:1.4 lens. Filtration used: None

Posted on

Tuesday 29 September 2020

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• Backyard Astronomy Gallery / Terrestrial / Sprites - Other TLEs

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