English

Noun

blue starter ‎(plural blue starters)

1. (astronomy, meteorology) an upper atmospheric optical phenomena associated with thunderstorms, rapidly expanding disk-shaped regions of luminosity, lasting less than a thousandth of a second, which occur high above energetic cloud-to-ground lightning of positive or negative polarity, reaching to only about 12 miles altitude that occur over regions where large hailstones were falling
   • 2007, Vladimir A. Rakov, Martin A. Uman, Lightning: Physics and Effects, Cambridge University Press:

     Blue starters were first observed in 1994.

See also

• bluejet
• elve
• gigantic jet
• gnome
• pixie
• red sprite
• sprite halo
• sprite
• transient luminous events
• troll
• upward lightning