"Upwards Lightning"

My understanding is that veteran airline crews would insist that there were "upward" lightning strikes but it was generally dismissed until they were observed/photographed by astronauts from space.
 

Not sprites according to Professor Cummer. But.. :dunno: -Skip

Professor Cummer caught the images of the event by chance. He had trained his camera on the sky above the storm, hoping to photograph another phenomenon known as "sprites". These are blue or red electrical discharges above storm clouds.
 
The Discovery Channel had a recent show on this. Showed the original scientist that saw them taking pictures at night with a night amplification devise from afar where top of storms was visible. AF meterology unit also did pics, confirmed and named many of the lightning patterns. Interesting stuff. The show said they still couldn't explain exactly what causes them.

Best,

Dave
 
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