An ultra-rare and enigmatic phenomenon known as ELVE, which looks like an enormous red ring of light and is produced by thunderstorm clouds looming in the skies of Italy, has been photographed by a photographer.
On Monday, March 27, Valter Binotto photographed the ELVE, which was visible for only a brief period of time over Italy.
It was 62 miles high within the ionosphere and 223 miles wide.
Binotto claimed that in order to photograph this amazing phenomenon, he needed to use specialized methods and tools.
He claimed that the phenomenon would be challenging to capture on camera using standard equipment as tey produce very little light that is in the infrared range, which is invisible to sensors.
Binotto employed a camera devoid of the typical IR Cut filter for it to effectively see the infrared band.
Binotto used his Sony a7S camera, which was equipped with a Nikon 20mm f/1.8 lens, to record video at 25 fps in order to capture the picture.
The lens is wide open, and the camera is set to 51,200 ISO, and he recorded in 4K using an Atomos Ninja flame.
That Red Ring of Light ELVE
Emissions of Light and Very Low-Frequency Perturbations caused by Electromagnetic Pulse Sources are referred to as ELVE.
It is a rare variety of Sprite, which is still being studied by scientists, and is a massive electrical discharge that takes place high over a thunderstorm cloud.
Sprites come in many different varieties, with an ELVE being the biggest and most uncommon.
A viewer must be far from the thunderstorm that generates it to see an ELVE.
Only in 1990 was an ELVE discovered by a space shuttle camera.
The ELVE, according to Binotto via Space Weather, was produced by powerful lightning in a storm near Ancona, which is located about 177 miles due south of where he was stationed.
One bolt was so powerful, according to Binotto, that it produced a powerful electromagnetic pulse (EMP).
The EMP's impact point on Earth's ionosphere is indicated by the red ring.
This lightning bolt was about ten times stronger than average, carrying between ten and 30 kiloampères of current.
Chasing Thunderstorm Clouds Over Italy
Binotti, who has been documenting these occasions since 2017, was inspired to take his own photo of an ELVE after seeing images of them online.
The thunderstorm he was following, he claimed, was quite powerful, which gave him hope that he might be able to see something.
The ELVE is a fairly uncommon sight, and he had been hoping desperately to be able to capture one on camera at some point.
However, that evening, he was anticipating sprites, another type of lightning.
According to Binotti, this is the most incredible image of a sprite he has ever taken.
The photographer said via PetaPixel that this was the first ever ELVE he encountered and captured on camera.
The sky was clear, the distance was ideal, and the framing was perfect-all excellent conditions.
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First-Ever Sprites on Camera
These lightning bolts that appeared to shoot up from storm clouds were ridiculed for more than a century.
Sprite sightings have been reported sporadically at least since 1886.
Even when honorable pilots or scientists reported them, the scientific community disregarded the events, according to the Almanac.
Then, in 1989, researchers from the University of Minnesota successfully captured the alleged "sprites" on camera.
Since then, sprites have subsequently been documented thousands of times in photographs and videos.
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