Incredible Photo Captures Rare Sprite And ELVE Lighting Up The Sky In One Frame

A few weeks ago, a particularly strong lightning bolt was released over the Adriatic Sea, between the Italian and Balkan Peninsula. The electric field spread across the atmosphere, traveling hundreds of kilometers, where, above the Northern Italian town of Possagno, not too far from Venice, not one but two rare atmospheric phenomena took place. Incredibly, they were both captured in a photograph at the same time. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The amazing shot was captured by Valter Binotto , an Italian photographer who has not only previously won the Wildlife Photographer of the Year Award , but he's also talented at capturing elusive atmospheric events .

The red, disk-like structure is known as an ELVE, or an