Giant Crimson Halo Rings the Sky Over Possagno for Second Time in Three Years

For the second time in just three years, a colossal ring of crimson light measuring approximately 200 kilometres in diameter has materialised above the quiet alpine town of Possagno in northern Italy. Nature photographer Valter Binotto captured the extraordinary phenomenon on November 17 at 10:45 local time, documenting an almost identical event to the one he recorded over the same location in March 2023.

The glowing halo, which appeared to hover at an altitude of around 100 kilometres, is not evidence of extraterrestrial visitation but a rare and spectacular atmospheric event known as an ELVE (Emission of Light and Very Low Frequency perturbations due to Electromagnetic pulse sources). These fleeting rings form in the lower ionosphere when an exceptionally powerful lightning bolt generates an intense electromagnetic pulse that excites nitrogen molecules, producing the distinctive red luminescence.

According to Binotto’s analysis published on Spaceweather.com, the November event was triggered by a lightning discharge carrying an estimated 303 kilo-amperes of current – between ten and thirty times stronger than a typical thunderstorm strike. The electromagnetic pulse travelled upward at the speed of light, colliding with the ionosphere precisely above Possagno and creating the perfectly centred, expanding red ring visible in his photographs.

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ELVEs belong to a family of upper-atmospheric phenomena called Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), first confirmed by NASA in the 1990s. Lasting barely a millisecond, they are notoriously difficult to observe without high-speed cameras and remain among the least-studied electrical phenomena on Earth. The extreme rarity of capturing two such perfectly positioned events over the same small town of just 2,200 residents has astonished atmospheric scientists worldwide.

While the crimson rings appear eerie and UFO-like from the ground, similar processes produce different colours on other planets: Jupiter’s hydrogen-rich atmosphere causes its recently discovered TLEs to glow blue or pink. The repeated appearance of textbook-perfect ELVEs above Possagno has transformed the sleepy Italian village into an unlikely global hotspot for one of nature’s most elusive and breathtaking light shows.

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