A group of Russians has witnessed a seldom-seen phenomenon that scientists do not yet fully understand. One of them was able to capture the rare phenomenon known as ball lightning on video.
Roman Tregubov, a graduate of the Novosibirsk State Technical University, used the camera on his cell phone to capture the bright white ball gliding over a field near his country house outside of Novosibirsk, Siberia's largest city.
Although the video was shaky, Tregubov accurately identified what the phenomenon is. When somebody asked him what it is he was filming, he said it was a fireball lightning and it is the first time he witnessed one in his life.
"Fireball lightening is very rare, yet they can appear anywhere at all," Tregubov said. "I was astonished to see the fireball lightening of such size — and not just that, but to catch the whole process from the beginning when it appeared until the end."
Tregubov explained that the footage he took was shaky because he had to stand on a brick so he can get a view of the ball over the fence and the bushes.
Ball lightning is a little-understood atmospheric electrical phenomenon that involves a luminous sphere of electricity with varying sizes. It can be very small but it sometimes reaches up to several meters in diameter.
People have reported seeing the phenomenon for hundreds of years, but because it is seldom witnessed, some have dismissed it as an urban legend. Scientists do not yet fully know what it is exactly and what causes it.
Eyewitnesses have described seeing a floating and glowing ball that looks like a tennis ball or a beach ball and the sightings often accompany thunderstorms.
The ball lightning appears to glide near the ground, sometimes bouncing off the ground and other objects. It does not also seem to obey the whims of the wind and is neither influenced by the laws of gravity.
The glowing balls, however, eventually disappear with some eyewitnesses reporting seeing them melt through glass windows. The phenomenon lasts about 10 seconds before it fades away or dissipates with a small explosion. A typical ball glows with the power of a 100-watt bulb.
The ball lightning is not inherently deadly, but there are reports of people getting killed by contact. Electricity researcher Georg Richmann is believed to have been electrocuted by a ball lightning while conducting a lightning-rod experiment in St. Petersburg, Russia in 1753.
