The "fairies" - red flashes sent from storm clouds, and the "elves" - glowing red circles at a height of 300 km were photographed for the first time from space as part of a study on electronic phenomena in which Ilan Ramon is participating * Impressions from the seventh day - 22.1.2003
Space shuttle Columbia crew members photographed "fairies and elves" dancing on clouds, and these images may help scientists solve the electronic mystery that is not normally visible to the human eye.
Astronaut Dave Brown photographed the "fairies", which are red flashes sent from storm clouds at an altitude of 20 km into the ionosphere, and the "elves", which are glowing red circles at an altitude of 300 km.
The studies of these electronic phenomena are carried out by the Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, as part of the Israeli experimental program MEIDEX.
"This is the first time we have successfully taken such pictures," said Yoav Yair, the coordinator of the Israeli project for space shuttle experiments. Yair noted that Brown did not see the flashes and did not know what he was photographing until the scientists on the ground downloaded the image files and analyzed them. "You have to be extremely lucky to photograph it, because it lasts 0.1 millisecond, less than a thousandth of a second," Yair said. "Fortunately, God was on our side this time and we succeeded."
The "fairies" were discovered in 1989 and the "elves" in 1994. Discoveries led to the beginning of many studies in the physics of the upper atmosphere. Until now there were pictures taken from the ground or from airplanes.
The shuttle cameras caught the flashes while trying to photograph the sandstorms, which are one of the experiments that Ramon is supposed to perform. But Zeev Levin, from Tel Aviv University, who runs the Israeli experiments, said that winter is the worst time to search for sandstorms in the Middle East region. According to him, the team has yet to encounter any sandstorms, and instead they are tracking "plumes" of polluting substances coming from Europe and hover over the research area
