2023-04-28 16:01:28
A very rare phenomenon can sometimes occur on cloud tops: twinkling lights begin to dance and wiggle in particularly eerie ways. These are corona flashes, or cloud flashes.
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Crown flashes occur so rarely, and are so poorly documented, that their formation remains a mystery to this day. One thing is certain, it is not a laser beam from a flying saucer, but a natural phenomenon. Of all the possible light phenomena in the sky, corona flashes are the most difficult to observe.
These flashes are sometimes visible to the naked eye, but they are often so small and so distant that only zooming in on the video can spot them. It still happens that some are really spectacular and give the impression that a light “dances” at the top of the cloud, with jerky and rather enigmatic movements.
Ice crystals disturbed by electricity from the cloud
They are most often observed above the highest clouds, the cumulonimbus clouds, which can culminate at an altitude of 15 kilometers. The cloud is composed of ice crystals on which sunlight refracts, a well-known phenomenon in the case of many optical phenomena. But in this case, it would seem that the electric field of the cloud top is moving these crystals, disorganizing and realigning them successively.
When the electric field is disturbed by an electric discharge (like a lightning bolt) inside the cloud, the ice crystals move, which causes the sudden movements of the glow. This is what would be at the origin of this luminous dance with supernatural appearances.
The way this glow wiggles is perceived differently depending on the position of the observer. In any case, the observation is often very short, a few seconds to a few minutes.
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