http://spaceweather.com/gallery/indiv_u ... d_id=70604
This is a link to a set of photographs said to be of “sprites” I am very grateful to the photographer who took them.
It seems that the “flow” of current flows from the lower part of the object through and beyond the object itself.
In this photo, if enlarged, you will see that there seems to be some sort of “ball” or “sphere” that interlinks with the sprites, and lets them spread out. However in one instance, the very far right example, the flow seems to be “inverted” (opposed to the flow of the remainder of illustrations.)
What is particularly interesting, to me at least, is the image of the single sphere which seems to be charged on the right center side of the sphere, but for some reason has not discharged. It appears as a singular globe. This image is in the center right portion of the photo. When it is enlarged, the reddish color is visible.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upper-atmo ... _lightning
This apparently isn’t how sprites should behave, according to the above link. According to wikipedia, sprites discharge downwards. But it is somewhat of an introduction to the upper atmospheric phenomena for someone totally new. At least, we can see what the rest of the world “knows” about sprites, which apparently isn‘t much of value.
Please note in the first photograph that there seems to be some sort of “node“ that the lightning, or whatever that discharge is called, passes through. In most of the cases, a flow goes from the lower section to the upper section, with 2 exceptions: 1) a “Charged body that didn‘t discharge“; and 2) a minor body that discharged back towards the earth.
Does anyone have any ideas about how these atmospheric phenomena occur, why they occur at certain times, and what can we learn from them?.