St. Elmo's fire

St. Elmo's Fire is an electrical weather phenomenon in which visible plasma is created by a coronal discharge originating from a grounded object in an atmospheric electric field (such as those generated by thunderstorms).

St. Elmo's fire is named after Erasmus of Formiae (also called St. Elmo), the patron saint of sailors (who sometimes held its appearance to be auspicious). Alternatively, Peter Gonzalez is said to be the St. Elmo after whom St. Elmo's fire has its name.

Ball lightning is often erroneously identified as St. Elmo's Fire. They are separate and distinct meteorological phenomena.