Oblok
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This was the neatest thing I saw last week that hadn't yet made it to Imgur (that I know of). Credit to Shengyu Li who shot this on Oct. 27 in Sichuan, China while doing long exposure astrophotography.
You can see that the light comes from the moments the avalanche impacts the hillside (twice) after long freefalls, fracturing massive numbers of ice crystals (resulting in the blue flash). This is a similar phenomenon to crushing wintergreen lifesavers in the dark and seeing the flash.
I hope you found this as fascinating as I did. Sauce is at the always awesome spaceweather.com, Nov 26 2024. https://www.spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=26&month=11&year=2024
canadmos
That's not the puck follow feature from the NHL?
5ing
Spenne
I have seen this during an earthquake. It was all around be like lighting but totally silent
DFTM06
Starry nights are the real luxury.
CoeurFranc
Reminds me of the falling tree in the woods with or without witness.
KaptainObveeus
Tree falls in the woods, makes no noise. Guy hiding nearby in camouflage "wtf?!" Tree: "oh shit, I mean Oh no! I fell down!"
Harryteeters
mercyPandaRunner
Yoink.
DemSumBigAssRidges
Is this like the little bit of electricity you can see when you open a band-aid or something else?
FullMetalJackass
Yes, yes I did.
LiillooDallasMultipass
ParallelParkingInABurka
Cosmicfisherman
Pretty cool shot
youreathing
Piezoelectricity!
mikeatike
I can't explain to people how cool it is to be somewhere dark enough that you can see the stars all the way to the horizon. You just gotta go to a place to see it.
delightphil
Long exposure photography would have just shown a streak, not this. Or have I missed something?
nomorehate
Been into astrophotography for about a year now, so I'm by means no pro. But to me, it sort of looks like sequential long exposure shots that have been clipped together into a gif, not a single photo time-lapse (the exposures are pretty short bc the stars don't look too blurred.) Avalanches can run for a couple minutes, so it's possible one of the shots caught the ice flash, maybe?
Reddot99
Multiple long exposures.
oldskoolzeldafan
you can see this effect, if you chew a candy cane in the dark, and looking in a mirror with the lights off. also happens when you peel the plastic wrap off the candy cane. (and it is candy cane season)
FetlockDeepInHuman
... Snow glows?
astrangehop
Crystals breaking glows.
FetlockDeepInHuman
Neat, I love it.
astrangehop
So the 1990s version of this is to go into a completely dark bathroom and chew Wintergreen lifesavers in a mirror. The sugar produces uv light, and the Wintergreen oil flouresces. Have fun!
FetlockDeepInHuman
Yeah I remember those and jawbreakers doing it but I just didn't know snow did it... If it knows this year I'm going to try it with the ice because there is always a 4 to 5 inch layer of ice on top of the snow
angryjeep
Triboluminescense, huh. TIL https://explorersweb.com/avalanche-in-china-causes-mysterious-flashing-lights/
imakesoap
I don’t remember the tribbles glowing in Star Trek, but ok
parabolic000
tribbing can cause luminescence?
angryjeep
Tribbing, huh. TIL www.nsfw.link/wow/ok/neat.html
OhIfIMust
Ooh, is this why my ice cubes flash sometimes when I twist the tray to loosen 'em??
dreammer243
That's a thing?
OhIfIMust
Yep!!
DrPepper523
Would make sense for an energy release of breaking crystal structures
mikeatike
I know a lot stuff about physics and photography, but never knew this was a thing. Thanks @op!
Oblok
:) I'm delighted to share it, I felt the same way.
mikeatike
It just feels good to learn a thing that is so unexpected. :)