Strange gigantic ring of red light spotted in the night sky over central Italy

On the night of November 17, 2025, an enormous ring of red light materialized in the sky over Central Italy. Though only for a few seconds, this apparition was large enough to be seen with the naked eye. This event was captured by photographer Valter Binotto from the small town of Possagno, situated in the foothills of the Italian Alps, according to Tony Phillips of SpaceWeather.com. The atmospheric event that materialized in the image is known as an "ELVE," short for Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources.

This rare occurrence of a sprite was initially found in 1990 by cameras aboard NASA's space shuttles, according to Phillips. ELVEs are observed at a distance of around 62 miles above the ground, and the one spotted on November 17, 2025, was about 124 miles in diameter. "The ELVE was generated by a powerful negative lightning strike in a storm in Vernazza about 300 km south of me," stated Binotto. The lightning strike was so strong that one bolt of -303 kilo-ampères generated an intense electromagnetic pulse (EMP). For comparison, a normal lightning bolt carries around 10 to 30 kilo-ampères of current. The red ring formed where the EMP hit Earth's ionosphere. 

According to Space.com, the high-energy electrons in the EMP collided with nitrogen atoms in the ionosphere. This causes the nitrogen to glow briefly with a reddish hue. As they are short-lived, ELVEs are normally visible only to satellites orbiting Earth. 

This phenomenon had occurred in Italy before, when it looked like a massive UFO or a cosmic gateway opening in the sky. The date was March 27, 2023, and Binotto managed to capture it as well. Though it was seen above the town of Possagno, the red ring was located above central Italy and part of the Adriatic Sea. Then there is the red sprite that was spotted in Hawaii in February 2021.

Binotto has shot hundreds of ELVEs and other types of transient luminous events (TLEs) since 2019. Aside from ELVEs, there are several other phenomena related to thunderstorms, such as blue jets, TROLLs, Pixies, GHOSTs, and Gnomes. Many transient luminous events happen in the upper atmosphere. But they are not well defined, according to IFLScience. This is because they form above thunderclouds, and it is difficult to study them from the ground. But that doesn't mean you can't get lucky.

It's just that you'll have to be at the right place at the right time. Favorable alignments between distant storms and a camera might aid in capturing the red sprites created by thunderstorms. It makes sense why they were named after mythical beings that fans of "The Lord of the Rings" rave about. So, if you ever spot ELVEs or GHOSTs or Gnomes, you'll have massive bragging rights for sure.

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