UPDATE: According to Nemetode.org I am the first in the Republic of Ireland but
first in Ireland goes to Robert Cobain who captured one in 2005 January from Bangor,
Co. Down, Northern Ireland.
Could I possibly be the first person to capture a Sprite from Ireland???
Captured from South Dublin, Ireland on the 26th of October 2011 at 01:25:39 hrs
There is a uniform slight brightness on frame 36 at 01:25:39.855
Trigger image is frame 37 at 01:25:39.887
Frame 38 at 01:25:39.934 has no irregularities, ~66 frames captured altogether @
25FPS
What is a Sprite? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning#Sprites)
Sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high above a thunderstorm
cloud, or cumulonimbus, giving rise to a quite varied range of visual shapes. They
are triggered by the discharges of positive lightning between the thundercloud and
the ground. The phenomena were named after the mischievous sprite (air spirit) Puck
in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. They normally are coloured reddish-orange
or greenish-blue, with hanging tendrils below and arcing branches above their location,
and can be preceded by a reddish halo. They often occur in clusters, lying 50 kilometres
(31 mi) to 90 kilometres (56 mi) above the Earth's surface. Sprites were first photographed
on July 6, 1989 by scientists from the University of Minnesota and have since been
witnessed tens of thousands of times. Sprites have been mentioned as a possible cause
in otherwise unexplained accidents involving high altitude vehicular operations above
thunderstorms.
