Last Friday night thousands of people in Mexico witnessed a rare natural phenomenon, but it did not stop surprising those who could observe it.
During the afternoon-night it was possible to observe four lights suspended in the sky, accompanied by a reddish sky, with the passage of time, it was only possible to visualize two sprites.
Immediately the photos and comments began to circulate on the main networks such as Facebook and Twitter.
Foto de las luces observadas esta noche sobre Villahermosa.
¿Serán los reyes magos? ¿Crisis en las Tierras Infinitas? ? pic.twitter.com/zTnkUDjvUU
— K X V I N ❌ H E R R E R A (@mrkevinherrera) July 11, 2020
The event caused such a stir that comments of all kinds were made, from religious, scientists and even those who predicted the “end of the world”.
? #AHORA | @fanyalamilla nos comparte este breve video de las luces que se ven esta noche en la ciudad de #Villahermosa. pic.twitter.com/tni6O9skoD
— Ahora Tabasco (@AhoraTabasco) July 11, 2020
Although speculation about its origin was immediately related to UFO sightings and other theories that lack scientific support, the explanation from meteorologists and specialists is that it is a luminous event called sprites.
En Villahermosa Tabasco México reportaron luces en el cielo muy extrañas, definitivamente inusuales.
he recibido diversas fotos y reportes asi que lo voy a investigarreporte del periodista investigador Pacx Villamilhttps://t.co/S53qiZseIT#aprendeastronomia con @Fercorreaastro pic.twitter.com/mAWLBEdkCi— Fernando Correa (@Fercorreaastro) July 12, 2020
What are Sprites or Red Wraiths?
Red sprites or spectra are a light effect that appears when the high electrical activity of a storm is very intense and some rays with positive polarity produce a change in the electric field, which rises towards the atmosphere and whose discharge is manifested with a glow of deep red color.
Why is it so difficult to see a Sprite?
During an intense electrical storm, different phenomena occur such as lightning, thunder and precipitation that can fall as a liquid rain; or solid and frozen, like hail.
All of them occur under the storm clouds (cumulonimbus) and are evident, but other phenomena that commonly go unnoticed by the human eye also occur over these clouds, especially if the clouds extend for kilometers and prevent seeing what happens above them. .
How does a Sprite form in a thunderstorm?
According to the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics, “a sprite is produced as follows: a storm cloud has a negative electric charge at the bottom and a positive one at the top.”
“Generally, the rays emerge from the lower region and show negative polarity, but sometimes rays with a positive polarity appear, much more powerful and dangerous.”
“The latter produce an electric field that rises into the upper atmospheric layers and triggers the sprite.”
This phenomenon can appear as small plumes in the form of columns or be more showy, creating a kind of tentacles or filaments called jellyfish in the sky after a storm.
Sprites are part of a group of phenomena called Transient Light Events, which although they have been little studied, make up are part of the lights that are created in a storm at the top of the clouds.
Despite their spectacular nature, sprites do not pose any risk to the population, as they occur in the mesosphere, more than 50 kilometers high.
