Ball Lightning Photograph

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 1st Feb. 2002.
Introduction

On the 1st February 2002, during one of the most severe thunderstorms seen in Melbourne Australia for many years, I observed and photographed a rare type of lightning - Ball Lightning - so called because of it's spherical shape similar in nature to the animated GIF above.

As well as being a significant event in itself due to its apparently large size , the rarity of existing photographs and the number of eyewitnesses located (seven so far) makes it more so. The number of existing photographs of Ball Lightning are few. See BL Info 8.

The Ball Lightning was captured toward the end of time exposure of a few minutes duration. This was the first of five consecutive frames taken of this particular storm cell. I also observed it visually (not through the camera lens) from the time it reached full intensity to when it descended out of view. The moment before it appeared I was watching more intense strikes slightly to the right (see photo below) and I cannot specifically recall noticing the strike that it appears to be connected with. It appears that this strike occurred before the Ball Lightning appeared and may perhaps be unrelated. Scientific opinion also suggests this to be the case. See BL Info 9. However at other times it has been observed to be 'striking off' cloud to ground strikes. I have seen BL perhaps three times before in Melbourne. Twice out of those three events I saw it striking off normal CG strikes. See other accounts (Wandong 2002 BL Info 4 and Ireland c.1963 BL Info 7). It seems it can occur in either circumstances.

By seeking other witnesses to this event through Newspaper and Television media I was able to piece together its journey of 12 kilometres from Wantirna South to Blackburn. Before it descended it appeared to be almost stationary or hovering for a moment. It then suddenly dived at around 720 kph or more to its first impact point in Vermont. The outer corona diameter appears to be perhaps 125 -150 feet (45 metres). It divided after the first impact into smaller spheres "with interconnecting colour to give almost the impression of part of a necklace or string of beads" - Joe Stanley. See witness accounts BL Info 2.
Note : The animated GIF (right) is a very rough simulation made with 'Photoshop' to show it's spherical, pulsing and free floating appearance. Color also oscillated, overlapped and flashed seemingly all over which is difficult to render accurately here. From a distance of 22 km I was pressed to see much detail with the naked eye.
In the photograph the ball like sphere appears as a streak as it was captured toward the end of a long time exposure, approx. 5-7 minutes. The Ball Lightning briefly appeared at he end of this long exposure. It was clearly visible to me for between 7 - 10 seconds from the time it fully brightened to when it descended below the horizon. It was 22 - 25 kilometres SSW from the point that I took the photo, at Kangaroo Ground, 40km N/E of Melbourne (taken with a 35mm camera & zoom lens set about 50mm).

At that distance to the eye I observed it as a small sphere of light with an unstable rapid flashing yellow / orange / red colour. To the eye the colors seemed to pulse and flash all over the ball like flame however the photo shows a bright core only, due to overlapping color and light. It also appeared to be glittering or flashing with sparks or lightning. From my viewpoint it appeared to hover or perhaps move very slowly to begin with. It then dived diagonally downward to the right (west) at an estimated velocity of 720 kph or more. It appeared spherical but may have become a little elongated as it descended. Curiously it did not appear to accelerate but rather was suddenly moving at a constant speed. The approximate diameter of the Orange / Red fireball appears to have been about 125 - 150 feet (45m). If so, this is very large for this type of BL. Usually they're observed being in the order of tennis, soccer or beachball size. They have been seen to divide into smaller balls like this one did and have even been observed joining up or reuniting again. Looking into reports after this event happened I learned that many variations of behaviour have been witnessed in the past.
Roll mouse over image for approximate path of the BL that was hidden from view.

What happened to the Ball Lightning after it descended out of view - Also see MAP

This became a quest for me to find out and as a result of news coverage of this the event, I've had seven reliable witnesses contact me. One in East Camberwell (at 10 km West from BL), two in Nth Dandenong (at 12km S/E), one at Nunnawading, one in Vermont and two at its final destination at Blackburn. I was surprised at the difficulty of finding more witnesses given its size and feel sure there are other people that saw it. More may still contact me. Their descriptions would be invaluable.

The sequence of events that were witnessed at around 9pm 1st Feb. 2002 follows:

1 * It first appeared over the Wantirna South area. It seemingly appeared independently of any lightning stroke. It took 2 seconds or more to fully brighten. It appeared to hover or, as the photo suggests, move very slowly for a further 2 to 3 seconds. It then suddenly descended very rapidly over 4 to 5 seconds until it was out of view. It then impacted objects or terrain at least twice 'bouncing' 12km to Blackburn. It perhaps disintegrated a little each time as it struck obstacles while trying to follow the terrain horizontally westwards - even it seems rising over higher land.

2 ** The first impact point at Vermont triggered or was simultaneous with the large jaggered strike that is captured in the next frame on the roll. (I recall the motordrive advancing the film to the next frame quite soon after the event and then I immediately opened the shutter again via a rubber air cable release that I use in thunderstorm shoots. The ball or at least part of it appears to have clipped trees killing one medium sized tree and slightly damaging another in Vermont. A loud explosion was heard followed by a large (30m) orange glowing light which persisted among a grove of trees for about 5 seconds. It dimmed slowly over a few more seconds before disappearing completely. "The light had a strangeness about it , but looked something like as if a distress flare had been lit . I nearly hit the roof when it struck" - Paul Maher.

3 *** During the second stage of its journey it was observed from East Camberwell as consisting of four spheres in line. The second was possibly a bit smaller with two smaller ones again following closely in train with perhaps a short tail at the end " to give almost the impression of part of a necklace or string of beads. They were connected by colour and lightning" said J.S. "They appeared Gold/Yellow at their centres with dimmer Orange/Red flashing corona around them".

4 **** It was then briefly glimpsed passing over the area of Nunnawading Station - with another loud bang occurring. Very roughly estimated diameter of the orange glow is about 40 feet (12m) and height of 30 - 40 feet. The witness a few blocks away thought that a petrol station had exploded.

5 ***** It was finally seen 'rolling' off a railway embankment at Blackburn. Its 'tail' still extended up the slope (approx 20 ft) when it seems to have contacted a metal BBQ plate and disappeared instantly with a very loud bang leaving no trace. The yellow ball at the head was estimated to be one metre wide and filling the backyard in an Orange/Red glow.

I estimate the total duration of the entire event lasted around 35 to 45 seconds. See BL Info2 for more.
What is Ball Lightning ?

Ball Lightning (BL or Kugelblitz, Boules de Feu ) is recognised by science but has eluded attempts at a generally accepted explanation. It can range from high intensity ones like this one through to semi-transparent orbs or other shapes of white or coloured plasma light. Earth Lights may be of a similar nature or perhaps of another kind of process altogether. Ball Lightning occurs most often during thunderstorm activity.

Some studies link Ball Lightning and 'Earth Lights' of a similar nature with earthquake activity. Earth Lights were photographed in Turkey (26th Jan. 02 - 3rd Feb. 02) and in Norway recently. BL and EL was observed during the Kobe, Japan earthquake 1995. See 'Volcanic Hotspot Awakes off Coast of Victoria, Feb 2002', BL Info 11

This theory is suggested by Associate Professor John Abrahamson and Graham Hubler. See ABC Science News 4 / 4 / 2002 : 'Ball Lightning Explained'

Other research suggests there are links with comet debris / cosmic matter. And there are many more theories. There are hundreds of scientific papers relating to theories on Ball lightning. Scientists gather annually at a BL Symposium to present new research.

Ball Lightning usually has a life span of only a few seconds but has sometimes been known to last up to several minutes. Few people ever see one in their lifetime (about 5%, Scientific America - other sources say 1%). Some people such as myself have seen them on more than one occasion. There are also records of multiple BL events with around 1,000 individual displays in the same storm (see Australia, Ireland )
Although hundreds of eyewitness accounts date back millennia, debate and scepticism of its nature and even it's existence has been common for over a hundred years and photographic evidence has been elusive and very rare. Ball Lightning appears to come in many varied forms with displaying perplexing and inexplicable behaviour. Most reported observations are of spheres in the order 10 to 50cm diameter however sometimes they can be much larger, at least to begin with.

The surrounding corona light of this Ball Lightning appears to have been up to 45 metres diameter with the core yellow centre appearing to be as large as 10 meters at the beginning of its journey. It is difficult to accurately calculate its size due to possible lens flare however it appeared visually to me to be an object that was as large as building or a large airliner as opposed to the street lights which were very small in comparison.

It's interesting that in its 'development' stage (as shown in the photo) the orange / red corona like light appears BEFORE the brighter centre core yellow / white light does. Other witnesses estimated the corona light to be of a similar size - up to 45 meters. To me, it appeared to be mainly orange all over but also flashing or pulsing in an overall red and yellow colors. Due to its size and distance it was difficult to discern any central yellow core as is revealed in the photo.

In my search for more information on Ball Lightning following the events of 1st Feb. 2002 I discovered these references to a major BL event that occurred in Victoria in November 1902.

" FIREBALL PANIC IN THE COUNTRY "

November 12th 1902

DUST and FIREBALL Storms of Victoria
Index

BL HOME / Introduction ............This page.

BL GALLERY......Ball Lightning photo - Melbourne, 1st Feb. 2002

BL INFO 1.......... RADAR, WEATHER, Camera/Film type, Scanning/Repro info.

BL INFO 2.......... WITNESSES ACCOUNTS, Melbourne Ball Lightning 1/2/02

BL INFO 3............MAP, ELEVATION and SEQUENCE of Melbourne BL 1/2/02

BL INFO 4...........Other BL sightings, MELBOURNE & Australia. 2001 - 2002.

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BL INFO 5...........Historical Victorian / Australian BL accounts

BL INFO 6..........The 1902 Victorian Fire Ball Storms

BL INFO 7..........More about Ball Lightning

BL INFO 8..........Other Photographers Ball Lightning Photos Gallery

BL INFO 9..........Feedback about the 1st Feb. 2002 event

BL INFO 10........Global Ball Lightning Accounts

BL INFO 11........Earthquake / Volcanic Activity connection ?

BL INFO 12........A mysterious event, Melbourne, 2nd Feb. 2005.

BL INFO 13........2003 Ball Lightning reports for Australia

BL INFO 14........2004 Ball Lightning (Aust. & International)

BL INFO 15........2005 Ball Lightning (Aust. & International)

LINKS .............Ball Lightning and other Lightning related sites

All photographs Copyright © Ern Mainka unless otherwise specified. No reproduction including on the Web without permission. Thank you.

This Ball Lightning web page was first established 12/3/2002 following this event.

© 2002 - 2007 Ern Mainka