'Most cold and flu viruses survive from a few hours to up to nine days, on temperature and relative humidity,' he says. Charles Gerba, Ph.D., a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the Department of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona, says that viruses, in general, can live on your toilet's surface anywhere from a few hours to a few days. You can find more of Paul’s work on his website, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.Cleaning the toilet might not be your favorite thing to do when it comes to refreshing the bathroom, but it's necessary.Īs time goes on, your toilet can start to accumulate high amounts of mold, yeast and germs. Though they are difficult to detect due to their faintness and the fact that they disappear within milliseconds, the conditions from Earth were just right to catch these sprites in action. A recent paper was also published in Science magazine. The data ASIM is generating has been made available to the public for the first time and can be consulted at the ASIM Science Data Center. New data from ASIM will improve our understanding of the effect of thunderstorms on the atmosphere and thus contribute to more accurate climate models. ASIM provides the highest ever spatial and temporal resolution for the study of electrical activity linked to thunderstorms. The combination of optical and Gamma-ray detectors in the same payload makes it possible to describe the lightning processes that lead to TGF emissions. ASIM also carries a Gamma-ray detector to study so-called Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs).Īll these instruments are mounted together outside the European Columbus module and look downwards towards the Earth. The scientific community was intrigued and wanted to learn more, leading to the creation of an observatory that is now aboard the International Space Station.Ĭalled the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor, or ASIM, the suite of instruments includes optical cameras and photometers to capture red sprites and other high altitude luminous events as well as lightning. First camera images of red sprites were obtained about 30 years ago.

Sightings of these elusive high altitude optical phenomena had long been based on hearsay and appeared to be linked with thunderstorms. I was out until the early hours of the morning and got home at 5:00, but so worth it!” The photo was taken from Lake Acadia, Oklahoma. “I was so amazed to capture some very bright reflections in the lake I was shooting from. “There were some very strong events and many dancing sprites as the storms matured,” says Paul. Taken in the early hours of 21 October by outdoor photographer Paul Smith, red sprites, along with blue jets and elves, are elusive electrical discharges in the upper atmosphere that are difficult to study as they occur over thunderstorms and propagate out into space. The red jellyfish in the sky is a unique red sprite high above a storm across the southern plains of the United States. Someone decked the skies with boughs of sprites.

Sprite image cleaner