# Rayle 1966: Ball lightning characteristics (NASA TN D-3188) > Warren D. Rayle, 1966. 10 records on Mysteries Department cite it. The first systematic survey and an open table of 112 cases. Source: https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D409XXR05T8/ball-lightning-characteristics-nasa-tn-d-3188 Publisher: Mysteries Department Licence: CC BY 4.0 (credit Mysteries Department and link the page) --- [Sources](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources)[Ball lightning](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning)Rayle 1966 **0** # Ball lightning characteristics (NASA TN D-3188) Warren D. Rayle, 1966. _NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio_. Surveys of NASA Lewis staff: ball lightning was reported nearly as often as seeing ordinary cloud-to-ground strokes hit nearby; 112 detailed descriptions were collected; no strong correlation between brightness, size, duration and colour; diameters follow a log-normal distribution; two tentative categories, balls that appear after a ground stroke and stay near the ground, and balls first seen in mid-air that vanish without disturbance. **Ball lightning** ReportCopy of **[NASA Technical Note D-3188, Ball lightning characteristics](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/artifacts/ART0D40AKN24RCE/nasa-technical-note-d-3188-ball-lightning-characteristics)** Checked against the original0 ## What it's used for here The first systematic survey and an open table of 112 cases. ## The document 44 pages [Pages][Text]Page 1 of 44 [![Page 1](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p1)1][![Page 2](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p2)2][![Page 3](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p3)3][![Page 4](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p4)4][![Page 5](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p5)5][![Page 6](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p6)6][![Page 7](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p7)7][![Page 8](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p8)8][![Page 9](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p9)9][![Page 10](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p10)10][![Page 11](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p11)11][![Page 12](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p12)12] ![Page 1 of Ball lightning characteristics (NASA TN D-3188)](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/v/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f/p1) The first 12 pages are shown; the rest are in the file. Text taken from the file. Check it against the page. ## Cited by on this site 10 records [NASA Technical Note D-3188, Ball lightning characteristics](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/artifacts/ART0D40AKN24RCE/nasa-technical-note-d-3188-ball-lightning-characteristics) ART [NASA Technical Note D-3188, Ball lightning characteristics: document](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/copies/CPY0D40AKWW22S3/nasa-technical-note-d-3188-ball-lightning-characteristics) CPY [NASA Lewis survey of 112 ball-lightning descriptions (Rayle 1966)](https://mysteriesdept.com/datasets/DAT0D40AGFG7WMN/nasa-lewis-survey-of-112-ball-lightning-descriptions-rayle) Dataset DAT [Rayle tentatively separated two categories of report, near-ground after strokes and mid-air.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40A8DP1T7E/rayle-tentatively-separated-two-categories-of-report-near) Evidence EVD [Rayle's first category appears after a stroke to ground and stays near the ground.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40AF0M4J84/rayles-first-category-appears-after-a-stroke-to-ground-and) Evidence EVD [Rayle's second category is first seen in mid-air and vanishes without disturbance.](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40AFR22WXH/rayles-second-category-is-first-seen-in-mid-air-and-vanishes) Evidence EVD [Surveys find reports nearly as frequent as nearby cloud-to-ground strokes, with consistent statistical…](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/evidence/EVD0D40A6YT6D4B/surveys-find-reports-nearly-as-frequent-as-nearby-cloud-to) Evidence EVD [Rayle publishes the NASA Lewis survey of ball lightning reports](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/events/EVT0D40A31T4G99/rayle-publishes-the-nasa-lewis-survey-of-ball-lightning) EVT [Warren D. Rayle](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning/people/FIG0D40A2AC2E3N/warren-d-rayle) FIG [Ball lightning](https://mysteriesdept.com/mysteries/ball-lightning) The mystery article MYS ## Cite it ``` Rayle, W. D. (1966). Ball lightning characteristics (NASA TN D-3188). NASA Lewis Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660006027 ``` [Read it free at ntrs.nasa.gov](https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/19660006027)[Download PDF · 2.2 MB](https://mysteriesdept.com/files/d/64cc90a97ad9f9c279ebffd61dc594c37bc3ddb061425dc13b4a9e3e2a1cfc1f) Anyone can read it here; members can download it. Key **SRC** 0D409XXR05T8 Kind Report Rights public-domain Kept 26 Oct 2026 Checked Against the published original Added by [apollo](https://mysteriesdept.com/u/apollo) The record Bibliographic records are CC0. Take this one as CSL-JSON, BibTeX or RIS. [CSL-JSON](https://mysteriesdept.com/sources/SRC0D409XXR05T8/ball-lightning-characteristics-nasa-tn-d-3188/csl.json)