The home of Elves and Sprites found

August 21, 2008 12:01 PM

Elves in the upper atmosphere. Weird phenomena and not well understood, they are observed in the upper atmosphere. More can be found here and here.
posted by dibblda (18 comments total)

That's very cool that beautiful, upper atmospheric phenomena are being studied further but I think the real question here is - just how are they able to make enough toys for the world's children every year?
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 12:11 PM on August 21, 2008

As you are reading this, a dragon continues to gnaw at the root of the world.
posted by felix betachat at 12:18 PM on August 21, 2008

Elves, it seems, like it wet and warm.

*chortle*
posted by shadow vector at 12:26 PM on August 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

What's the big deal here? "Sprites" are more correctly known as "player/missile graphics", I thought it was well known Elves can often be sighted at the local Dairy Queen, and blueJets depart daily from JFK and Dulles to Long Beach and Oakland.
posted by kcds at 12:30 PM on August 21, 2008

Flux capacitor photon bursts.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:44 PM on August 21, 2008

And at first I thought you meant these things.
posted by Guy_Inamonkeysuit at 12:51 PM on August 21, 2008

And I thought you were talking about Back to the Future :-)
posted by dibblda at 12:57 PM on August 21, 2008

if only it had been "elvis in the upper atmosphere"

where are my glasses?
posted by stubby phillips at 12:57 PM on August 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

So if there are elves, I guess we are not living in Talislanta then.

(I pity anyone who gets this joke...)
posted by WinnipegDragon at 1:02 PM on August 21, 2008

* tells joke about atmospheric hobbits *
posted by XMLicious at 1:16 PM on August 21, 2008

That's interesting, but recently people have been observing other unexplainable phenomena in the lower atmosphere!
posted by freq at 2:05 PM on August 21, 2008 [1 favorite]

(I pity anyone who gets this joke...)

Pity me for getting it, but I reserve my pity for the person who had it top of mind enough to make the joke.
posted by never used baby shoes at 2:10 PM on August 21, 2008

Ha! Next you'll say there are cookies in my computer.
posted by dhartung at 3:42 PM on August 21, 2008

Zombies of the Stratosphere!
posted by SPrintF at 6:01 PM on August 21, 2008

They're always after 'me Lucky Charms!
posted by Balisong at 6:21 PM on August 21, 2008

Elves, it seems, like it wet and warm.

Warm, anyway.
posted by homunculus at 6:30 PM on August 21, 2008

Back in the 60's, my old man, a radar-navigator on B-52's, used to tell me about having observed this kind of phenomenon as a way to temper my enthusiasm for UFO sightings. "There's a lot of weird things going on in the atmosphere we don't understand yet and they are not necessarily aliens from outer space" he'd say. So it was very gratifying to me when this stuff started getting photographed in 1989, confirming his tales. He also recounted to me witnessing ball lightening, another rare phenom. Thanks for this post!
posted by bonefish at 12:09 AM on August 22, 2008

I read that as "ELVIS" in the upper atmosphere. I will admit to being disappointed when I followed the link.

Also: FSM in the upper atmosphere.
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posted by Herodios at 6:41 AM on August 22, 2008