Last March 27, a huge red light halo was seen flashing over Italy's night sky. It flashed and then faded in a span of milliseconds.
Red Light Halo
Fortunately, Valter Binotto, a nature photographer, was able to take a snap of this UFO-like red light halo from the town of Possagno. As per Live Science, the red light halo, however, was not directly situated above the town. It flashed over central Italy and certain regions of the Adriatic Sea. A forced perspective made the halo appear like it hung over Possagno.
As per International Business Times, the halo's diameter was roughly around 360 kilometers. It was situated roughly 80 to 100 kilometers above the ground.
Binotto told PetaPixel, to capture the mysterious disk, he had to use special equipment and techniques. He notes that this phenomenon could be hard to capture using a normal camera. This is because of the low and infrared light. Binotto used a camera that did not have the usual IR cut filter. This enabled his camera to pick up the infrared band.
dopo gli Sprites ecco gli elfi!
altro fenomeno luminoso legato ai temporali.
questo si è sviluppato sopra Ancona ( 285km... Posted by Valter Binotto on Monday, March 27, 2023
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What Really Is This Mysterious Disk?
As per Live Science, this flash is known as ELVE, or light emissions and extremely low-frequency perturbations that result from electromagnetic pulse sources. ELVEs are rare stratospheric or mesospheric perturbations that result from SPRITE, or intense thunderstorm electrification.
These red rings came to be when lighting-induced EMPs, or electromagnetic pulses, hit the ionosphere of the earth. This, in turn, led to the ionization of a portion of the upper atmosphere that stretches from 80 to 644 kilometers above the ground, as noted by Live Science.
ELVEs are generally short-lived. Because of this, only orbiting satellites get to pick them up most of the time. They were first discovered back in 1990, thanks to a camera booted onto one of NASA's space shuttles.
The snap of Binotto is considered one of the best pictures taken from the earth's surface, as noted by Spaceweather.com.
The photographer thinks that an EMP from a strong thunderstorm close to Ancona generated this ELVE. In most cases, EMPs are not emitted by lightning bolts due to the insufficiency of the carried current. However, in such a storm, the remarkably strong bolt may have generated the grave shockwave that then hit the earth's ionosphere.
When EMP electrons get into contact with the ionosphere, the electrically charged molecules foster excitement among atomic nitrogen molecules. This, then, gives off a red glow.
Since 2019, Binotto has actually been photographing hundreds of ELVEs and other forms of TLEs (transient luminous events). However, this ELVE is allegedly one of the biggest objects that he has ever spotted.
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