By Alec Fernandes
A giant red halo briefly lit up the sky over Possagno, a small town near the Italian Alps, on November 17. Valter Binotto managed to photograph the strange phenomenon again after first capturing it in March 2023. Although these ominous rings look like UFOs or interdimensional portals, they're actually a rare natural phenomenon called ELVEs (Emission of Light and Very Low Frequency Perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources).
ELVEs happen during very powerful lightning, when an electromagnetic pulse shoots upward and interacts with the ionosphere high above Earth. This interaction makes a brief red glow that can form rings, disks, or other shapes. The red glow lasts about a thousandth of a second—far too quick for most people to notice with the naked eye—making Binotto's second photo a truly incredible feat.
ELVEs are so large and high in the atmosphere that they can be photographed from hundreds of miles away when conditions are right. The most recent red ring likely resulted from a thunderstorm near Vernazza, about 185 miles south of Possagno.