This was the first case of natural ball lightning that could be studied. Scientists recorded the spectrum of light that the ball possessed and analyzed it in the hope of discovering what this mysterious phenomenon consists of.
It turned out that the origin of ball lightning is quite earthly: the soil. When a normal lightning strike falls from the sky to the ground, it can vaporize certain minerals in the soil. Some of them contain silicon components, and under extreme conditions they can trigger chemical reactions to form silicon filaments.
These filaments are extremely reactive and burn in air, producing an orange glow that scientists have been able to measure. However, disputes about the origin of ball lightning are still ongoing, and the number of possible theories has long exceeded a dozen.