Rare Red Sprite astro event captured by Auckland photographer

Sunday, 17 June 2018

North Shore photographer Larryn Rae captured a rare astro event, the Red Sprite (top of photo), on his camera at Te Arai beach.

It's not every night a photographer is able to capture a phenomenon in the sky like the Red Sprite, but Larryn Rae did and he's so happy.

Red Sprite is an electrical burst that occurs above highly active thunderstorms.

According to National Geographic, the event is rarely observed from the ground or space because of its high altitude, milliseconds-long duration and relative dimness compared to lightning.

But North Shore resident Rae, 30, captured it accidently while his Canon 6D camera was on time lapse on Saturday evening at Te Arai beach.

* Astro photographers capture New Zealand's starry night sky like never before**

'I didn't even know what it was when I saw it later, I thought there was something wrong with my camera or it was a lens flare,' Rae said.

'But then at the back of my mind I thought it could be a Red Sprite, I've always heard of it.'

After researching online and talking to an astronomer friend, Rae confirmed the incredible image was that of a Red Sprite.

'It's crazy and it's completely rare to capture on camera.

'I do a lot of astrophotography and I capture a lot of interesting things but this was by far the most craziest thing I've captured on camera.'

Rae said he would definitely be talking about it during astrophotography workshops he runs under Shadow and Shade NZ.

He had been capturing night sky events for the last three years and his usual photos was that of the milky way and angle skies.

'I'm still completely overwhelmed and if I had to google it to find out what it was just shows how very rare it was to capture the Red Sprite, it's amazing.'