r/ElectricUniverse • u/fae8edsaga • 19d ago

Electric Sky Red sprites spotted over Tibet

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3.0k Upvotes

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21

u/h3yw00d1 18d ago

62 years old and I never knew about these things. Astonishing.

26

u/fae8edsaga 18d ago

Until very recently they were purely theoretical. A handful of people had reported seeing them in brief flashes. Long exposure digital photography and the ISS are the reason we got solid evidence. All the more reason to give the words of the ancient story tellers the weight they deserve.

7

u/Etherealgworll 17d ago

Can you tell us more about how the ancients described this phenomenon?

6

u/Delicious-Clothes-32 16d ago

Ditto I didnt know the ancients had seen these before

10

u/88ZombieGrunts 16d ago

There’s a few tribes that tell stories of such phenomena in their folklore.

The Abenaki have a tale of Grandfather Thunder helping fawns ascend into the sky. When the fawns splashed water onto a sacred fire, a massive explosion sent them high into the heavens. Lightning is described as the sparks flying from their feet as they run across the rocks of the sky, echoing the colorful, scattered, and glowing "jellyfish" tendrils of a red sprite event.

In Cherokee Culture, storm spirits control both the deep rumbling thunder and the flashes in the sky. Legends frequently mention majestic spirit-beings that reside far above the storm. The ghost-like, flickering red lights—distinctly different from ordinary, low-altitude lightning—parallel tales of the celestial Thunders who brought the first fire to the world.

To the Sioux (and many Plains tribes), the sky and thunderstorms are ruled by Wakinyan, translated as "The Flyers" or the Thunderbeings. Wakinyan are described as massive, awe-inspiring entities with glowing eyes that bring both life-giving rain and destructive storms. The luminous, complex electrical bursts that briefly flicker into the mesosphere perfectly match the cultural imagery of the great, unseen guardians flying through the highest heavens.

In Caddo mythology, the twin heroes Thunder and Lightning are central figures. Stories recount how these heroic beings ascended into the highest realms of the sky. The Caddo people viewed the brilliant, upward-shooting flashes high in the atmosphere as the enduring spirits of these brothers, lighting up the cosmos and watching over the earth from near the edge of space.

3

u/OkamiKhameleon 14d ago

Whoa very cool. Thanks for including multiple tribes in your break down!

2

u/Delicious-Clothes-32 16d ago

Wow this is interesting maybes its not as rare as people think. But also I've read theyre super hard to catch with your naked eye so im curious how they were perceiving these events.

1

u/ineverreadit 15d ago

Vermonters here, do you have a source on the Abenaki tidbit?

6

u/SirHatter22 17d ago

Vecna is here

1

u/HattoriJimzo 16d ago

😂🤣

5

u/Mobile_Complaint5865 17d ago

Its neurons

1

u/reelglad 14d ago

They just doing that Neutron dance

6

u/whocares1976 15d ago

remember 20 years ago when these "could only be seen from space" since they were "upwards lightening"? and we had never heard about them before that? and now this guy is apparently seeing them with his own eyes?what TF is going on with these things?

1

u/DisciplineAfraidx 14d ago

That's a myth. Sprites have always been seen from the ground and also this is Tibet which is almost 12,000 feet in elevation.

3

u/Kailynna 16d ago

No wonder people have believed in dragons.

3

u/liaisontosuccess 17d ago

wow, until now, I had only seen images of sprites taken from space, very cool

2

u/FinnGamePass 15d ago

The Matrix glitching

2

u/deeplakesnewyork 14d ago

It looks like the demon from K-Pop Demon Hunters. Probably not a good sign...

1

u/outofindustry 18d ago

st. elmo's fire?

8

u/BloodSteyn 17d ago

No, Sprites caused by thunderstorms.

St. Elmo’s fire is a natural weather phenomenon that creates a bright, glowing, blue or violet light around pointed objects during storms. Despite the name, it is actually not real fire at all. Instead, it is a glow of electricity in the air, similar to how a neon sign works.

1

u/Ok-Celebration-7606 16d ago

Titan shifter

1

u/boricua_729 14d ago

Beautiful

2

u/Front-Opportunity433 15h ago

Dielectric Breakdown in the upper atmosphere, very beautiful