Incredible images captured by an amateur astrophotographer show a bizarre red ring, 143-miles wide, floating in the sky.
Valter Binotto not only managed to capture the otherworldly sight over his hometown of Possagno, amazingly, it’s the second time he has recorded the rings from his location in northern Italy, nestled in the foothills of Monte Grappa.
The doughnut-shaped red rings are known as ELVES, an upper-atmospheric lightning event sometimes caught in long-exposure images above distant thunderstorms. (ELVES stands for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources).
They’re a type of ‘transient luminous event’ which occurs in the lower ionosphere, dozens of miles above the Earth, directly above powerful lightning storms.
Valter Binotto says he’s spent almost a decade tracking such high-altitude displays and secured his first ELVES image in 2023 above a storm 177 miles from his home (285 km).
“It took almost three years before I managed to capture another one,” said Valter.
He spotted it last month on November 17 from his home.
This time, it was triggered by a negative lightning strike of 303 kA, according to SWNS news. The lightning occurred above the Cinque Terre in Liguria, 186 miles (300 km) away from his location—with a calculated diameter measuring 200 km (124 miles).
“Another great thrill!
“Less than a week later, I captured a third. The thunderstorm was over the Adriatic Sea this time, in front of the Marche regional coast, 380 km (236 miles) from my home.
“This third event was different from the previous ones because, in addition to the ELVES, the lightning also produced a beautiful sprite.”
Sprites are sparkly, red, firework-like phenomena created by extremely powerful lightning between the ground and the edge of space.
Even better, he grabbed a photo (above) that contained both of the luminous events in the same frame—which he believes could be a first.
“When I saw it on the display, the emotion was overwhelming—I couldn’t believe my eyes, I was witnessing something unique, never seen before.”
He reported that the positive lightning had a power of 387 kA. And, thanks to the star field, he was able to calculate its position to be 52 miles high (85 km), measuring 143 miles wide (230 km).
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