I really love chasing sprites.
It’s a way out of my daily routine.
When a big sprite appears, we usually celebrating by screaming.
Fortunately, we are away from other people.
Ahh!
Opa!
It’s kind of like fishing. The thrill of fishing and catching.
The thrill of capturing a sprite, it never gets old.
Each one is unique and separate.
No two are identical.
There’s discoveries to be made here.
I do it partly for the thrill of it.
But then there’s also the science,
which is important as well.
Everybody has a piece of the puzzle and we are all putting it together.
It wasn’t until 2010 that I was able to capture my first TLE,
which happened to be a gigantic jet.
I have since captured many other types of TLEs
like sprites, elves, halos, and more gigantic jets.
I enjoy doing this because it not only fascinates the casual viewer
but it also helps the scientific community better understand these events.
I work here at McDonald Obsevatory, part of the University of Texas at Austin.
My job is to work with the surrounding communities to help preserve the night sky.
And that has the added benefit of also helping to preserve our view of sprites and TLEs.
TLEs are some of my favorite things to photograph in the night sky.
They are endlessly fascinating to me.
They never are the same twice and I always feel like
I’m on the verge of discovering something new ever time I go out and photograph them.
I love chasing red sprites because I just find it so fantastic
and amazing how we can see raw nature, kind of painted across the night sky like this.
And each one is so beautiful and so different
that I find myself getting addicted to going out and finding what I can captured next.