In another spectacular display, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently spotted a blue jet. Describe their observations in the journal Earth, they said it was captured on February 26, 2019 by their instruments. Blueprint lighting, also known as Upper Atmospheric lighting, is a lightning bolt that shoots upwards from thunderstorms.
The phenomenon was observed by European atmosphere interaction monitors near the island of Naru on the Pacific Ocean. The scientists report that they saw five intense flashes of blue light, each lasting about 10 to 20 milliseconds. The blue ray then flowed from the cloud in a narrow conical shape that extended into the stratosphere, the atmospheric layer extending about 10 to 50 kilometers above the earth’s surface, as described by livescience.com.
‘elves’
In addition to the blue jets, researchers have also seen another phenomenon occurring in the upper atmosphere. The phenomenon is known as “elves” and stands for emissions of light and very low frequency disturbances due to electromagnetic pulse sources. An animated artist’s visualization of the phenomenon has now been released by the European Space Agency (ESA). Check it out here:
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In another news item on ESA, a spacecraft designed by the United Kingdom made its first Venus flight while on its way to the sun in a mission to decode the secrets of the neighboring planet. The spacecraft is expected to tilt in a tilt under the influence of the sun’s gravity, as it faces Venus to make observations that will help scientists learn more about the planet. The Solar Orbiter’s perihelion to the sun occurred on December 27 around 12:39 UTC (13:39 CET) in the middle of the holiday season, according to ESA. The spacecraft will fly approximately 7,500 km from the Venus cloud trees.
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