{"id":242427,"date":"2025-10-22T02:09:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-22T02:09:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/242427\/"},"modified":"2025-10-22T02:09:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-22T02:09:08","slug":"a-perfect-coincidence-rare-red-lightning-captured-in-new-zealand-skies-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/242427\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A perfect coincidence\u2019: rare red lightning captured in New Zealand skies | New Zealand"},"content":{"rendered":"

A trio of photographers in New Zealand<\/a> have captured images of \u201cred sprites\u201d, or red lightning, one of the rarest light phenomena in the world, in which luminous crimson flashes appear in the sky.<\/p>\n

New Zealand photographer Tom Rae and Spanish photographers Dan Zafra and Jos\u00e9 Cantabrana set out to shoot the Milky Way over the \u014cm\u0101rama Clay cliffs in the South Island on 11 October, when they chanced upon the extraordinary event.<\/p>\n

The photographers thought they would be lucky to get clear skies that evening, but their night turned into \u201can unforgettable one\u201d, Rae told the Guardian.<\/p>\n

\"PhotographerPhotographer captures timelapse of ‘red lightning’ in New Zealand \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Cantabrana suggested they might be treated to a display of red sprites, when he saw a storm brewing over the horizon, Rae said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was checking his files for a Milky Way panorama and discovered he had captured red sprites,\u201d Rae said. \u201cDan and I just could not believe it \u2013 there was a whole bunch of screaming and shouting and all sorts going on in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

The photographers captured the shot over the \u014cm\u0101rama Clay cliffs in the South Island in October. Photograph: Tom Rae<\/p>\n

Red sprites are bursts of electrical energy in the upper atmosphere, generated by thunderstorms. Unlike lightning that shoots towards the ground, red sprites shoot upwards towards the upper atmosphere, creating forms that look like columns, carrots or even jellyfish. The first photograph of a red sprite was taken \u2013 accidentally \u2013 in 1989, by a team at the University of Minnesota.<\/p>\n

They are so brief \u2013 lasting just a millisecond \u2013 that they are rarely visible to the naked eye, but Rae got lucky. \u201cI happened to be looking directly at one when it happened \u2013 just a perfect coincidence looking at the right part of the sky and I saw a brief red flash,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Witnessing the phenomena was a dream for Rae, an award-winning night scape photographer. \u201cIt looks like you\u2019re seeing something that is not real, it\u2019s very ethereal \u2026 it\u2019s this very deep red colour that is there for a split second, so it\u2019s really interesting to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

Capturing a red sprite requires a mastery of technical photography, as well as an understanding of science and creative flare, Rae said. \u201cIt\u2019s a really involved type of photography that\u2019s very rewarding as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Zafra said it was one of the \u201cmost extraordinary nights\u201d of his life. \u201cI could see the Milky Way glowing above the horizon while these enormous red tendrils of light danced above a storm hundreds of kilometres away,\u201d Zafra said.<\/p>\n

Unlike lightning that shoots towards the ground, red sprites shoot upwards towards the upper atmosphere. Photograph: Dan Zafra<\/p>\n

To his knowledge, there are no other images showing red sprites and the southern hemisphere Milky Way in one frame.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those moments when you know you\u2019re witnessing something you\u2019ll probably never see again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A trio of photographers in New Zealand have captured images of \u201cred sprites\u201d, or red lightning, one of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":242428,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-242427","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242427"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242427\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}