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A rare photographic trifecta including space lightning, streaking meteors, and the southern lights has been captured by Kiama astrophotographer David Finlay over the far south coast of New South Wales.
Lightning sprites are a phenomenon best described as a form of space lightning that occurs high above a thunderstorm.
They appear as luminous reddish-orange columns of flashing light with tendrils, and capturing one has been on the bucket list of the astronomy enthusiast for more than a decade.
Not only did Mr Finlay successfully photograph them, he also shot the beautiful Aurora Australis and a variety of meteors in the one session.
"There are a variety of sprites associated with intense lightning storms and this particular one, I didn't know it was possible they occurred over the Australian mainland," Mr Finlay said.
"I've seen heaps of photos from the US and a couple from Europe, but I've never seen them photographed in Australia and I've got them over Jervis Bay."
Later investigation pinpointed the sprites about 195km away and 120km offshore between Moruya and Bega.
One sprite is 80km in altitude and a remarkable 17km long.
While Mr Finlay actively chases astronomical events, capturing the sprites on camera was a happy accident.
"It was also the night of the Lyrids meteor shower and I usually don't bother to go out and shoot them, but I thought there was a chance I'd get some Lyrid meteors and Aurora Australis at the same time," he said.
"I was at Marsden Reserve at Kiama Heights and there was also a brilliant storm that wasn't moving.
"It was just boiling in the one spot over Jervis Bay, and I thought maybe there's a chance I'll capture these lightning sprites."
Mr Finlay did not realise at the time that he had captured the long-awaited shot.
It was not until he was watching time-lapse footage of the entire evening of shooting that he saw a flicker of pink in the top of the frame.
He went back and carefully reviewed each frame and found the elusive sprites.
"There is some sort of electrical discharge that occurs very high up in the upper atmosphere," he said.
"They call them transient luminous events, and they'll appear well above the storm and they seem to sprout out of nowhere, but they're associated with intense lightning strikes."
The sprites were first documented in a photograph on July 6, 1989 when scientists from the University of Minnesota accidentally captured them using a low-light camera.
To capture them, a photographer must have at least 150km of clear view to a powerful thunderstorm, which Mr Finlay conveniently had looking down the New South Wales south coast.
"One of my friends said you only need a Tasmanian Tiger walking along the headland and you've just about got everything you've ever wanted in that stretch of footage," he said.
Topics: astronomy-space, photography, kiama-2533, moruya-2537
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