About Us Privacy & Cookie Policy Terms of Use California Privacy Right Copyright © 2024 KNEWZ™. A DIVISION OF MYSTIFY ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK INC. KNEWZ is a registered trademark. All rights reserved. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service, Privacy Policy, and Cookies Policy. People may receive compensation for some links to products and services. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Mysterious UFO-like red halo hovers over Italian Alps—seen twice in nearly 3 years: 'It is a very rare phenomenon' Valter Binotto, a nature photographer, uses special equipment to capture this extremely rare phenomenon in Possagno, Italy. PUBLISHED 11 HOURS AGO Thunder, lightning, and stormy sky in summer. (Representative Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Marta Ortiz) A halo of red light was recently captured near the Italian Alps by a nature photographer. Experts worldwide were surprised as a similar phenomenon was noted two years ago at the same site, according to Live Science . After the investigation, researchers concluded that the halo was a specimen of a rare phenomenon named "emission of light and very low-frequency perturbations due to electromagnetic pulse sources," or ELVEs. It mostly unfolds during intense thunderstorms. Capturing this phenomenon, which occurred twice at the same site, can be considered a rarity, as this event is invisible to the naked eye. People either have to get really lucky to capture them or have special equipment. Lightning Storms in the Great Plains (Representative Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Laura Hedien) Elusive halo The phenomenon attracted attention, as the halo looked like a UFO , which intrigued many extraterrestrial enthusiasts, according to the Daily Mail . This UFO-like ring was floating above Possagno when Valter Binotto, a photographer, captured it. Binotto took the photo at 10:45 local time on November 17, 2025. In March 2023, Binotto captured a similar visual in the same location. According to the estimates, the halo measured around 150 miles across and was moving at an altitude of around 60 miles. Binotto, though startled by the rare phenomenon appearing twice in the same place, does not believe extraterrestrial forces are at play. For a few milliseconds Nov 17th, an enormous ring of red light appeared in the sky over central Italy. Valter Binotto photographed it in the small town of Possagno in the foothills of the Italian Alps: "ELVE" was a short for Emissions of Light & Very Low Frequency Perturbations. pic.twitter.com/tIMszRGUuc — Betsey Foss Lewis (@BetseyFossLewis) November 21, 2025 Reality behind the halo-ELVEs Researchers believe this halo of red light is a specimen of ELVEs. It is so rare that NASA discovered it fairly recently in the 1990s. Therefore, it happened twice, and that too at the same site, which can be deemed rare. Scientists claim that these ELVEs occur when extremely powerful lightning bolts send an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) traveling through the upper atmosphere. The EMP clashes with a layer of Earth's atmosphere, the ionosphere, which varies between 50 and 400 miles above the surface. The resultant radiation triggers charged particles of nitrogen , resulting in a red glow. It is through this same process that the sun's electromagnetic radiation facilitates the glow of northern lights. The ELVEs are not photographed often, as they last for a very short time. On average, the lightning phenomenon's total duration is one thousandth of a second. Experts consider ELVEs to be part of the elusive transient luminous events (TLEs), which are hard to study and hence poorly understood. Image of a gigantic jet with an observatory in the foreground (Representative Image Source: Wikimedia Commons | Photo by International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/A. Smith) How did Binotto capture the phenomenon? Binotto used a specialized camera setup and depended on the right circumstances. The result was an extremely high–framerate video. After the phenomenon passed, he rewatched the footage and selected the frames where the ELVE was visible. Binotto has been trying to capture it for years, but has been successful only three times, due to the dynamics involved in it. "It is a very rare phenomenon. Only a few lightning strikes are capable of generating it, and sometimes they occur when conditions are not suitable for photographing them – because it is daytime, the sky is covered with clouds, or simply because I am asleep," Binotto shared. He added that when he captured it for the first time, he got highly emotional. He had seen the event in other photos, but this was the first time such a well-defined version was in front of him. Treviso — Italy Source: https://knewz.com/news/mysterious-ufo-like-red-halo-hovers-over-italian-alpsseen-twice-in-nearly-3-years-it-is-a-very-rare-phenomenon/