this post was submitted on 05 Jul 2025
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Space

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[โ€“] moonlight@fedia.io 9 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Anyone know why it goes from blueish to pinkish in color at the end of the arc? It looks like the same color shift that happens in a plasma globe.

[โ€“] Beryl@jlai.lu 6 points 3 days ago

Good question. From the wikipedia article on sprites : "Sprites get their characteristic red color from excitation of nitrogen in the low pressure environment of the upper mesosphere. At such low pressures quenching by atomic oxygen is much faster than that of nitrogen, allowing for nitrogen emissions to dominate despite no difference in composition."

[โ€“] Sergio@slrpnk.net 6 points 3 days ago

Amazing. Sometimes nature really freaks me out.