For a fleeting moment on Nov. 26, the night sky above northern Italy delivered a spectacle so rare that even seasoned skywatchers might never witness it in a lifetime. From his home in Possagno, nestled in the foothills of the Italian Alps, photographer Valter Binotto captured an image showing two of Earth’s rarest phenomena, an elve and a sprite, appearing at the same time. Elves and sprites belong to a family of electrical flashes known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), which occur high above thunderstorms rather than within them. While ordinary lightning strikes downward between clouds or toward the ground, TLEs ignite the thin air near the edge of space.
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