Red Sprite/Blue Jet photography!

[JB80]

Hey all,

Just curious because it isn't something you see a lot of and it would be a rare capture but has anyone successfully managed to image Red Sprites from a lightning storm with modest equipment?

Occasionally you do come across a pic or two taken with a simple dslr set up so I am reasonably confident it can be done and I'm sure I have see a couple of articles online but can't for the life of me find one now.

This guy used a modded dslr in video mode http://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=20&month=08&year=2012 for instance.

Now as far as I can tell the idea behind it should be relatively straightforward, you probably are best served with having good horizon views so if you have a clear sky at your location but can see a storm off in the distance you focus attention on the sky above the storm.

I'm also guessing that the idea behind it is somewhat similar to long exposure lightning imaging, say set the timer between 5-30 seconds and hope for the best.

Settings would likely be experimental, I don't really know to be fair but does the above sound reasonable?

Are there any other considerations?

I also wonder if daytime imaging is possible, surely it would be extremely difficult and I don't even know if they would be visible in daylight or if ND filters would help?

Anyway just some thoughts, I would love to hear from others on the subject

[JB80]

This blog seems to confirm a bit of what I say but uses shorter exposures and from the look of it you can pick a storm from radar images that is well outside your visual range

http://news.discovery.com/earth/skywatchers-see-bumper-crop-of-colorful-sprites-140628.htm