Saint Elmos Fire
St. Elmo's Fire, a form of electrical discharge that occurs around exposed objects—such as airplanes, church steeples, and ships—in the area of an electrical storm. St. Elmo's fire is usually blue but may also be green, violet, or, occasionally, pink. It may surround part or all of the object with a glow that looks like tiny tongues of flame.
St. Elmo's fire is a corona discharge—that is, a discharge of electricity that ionizes the air surrounding the object and causes the air to glow. Static electricity in the atmosphere induces a charge in the object. Current then flows between the object and the atmosphere, ionizing the molecules of gas in the air. The voltage developed is much lower than that which produces lightning, and St. Elmo's fire usually causes no damage. Ancient sailors considered it a good omen. The name St. Elmo's fire is a corruption of St. Erasmus'fire; Saint Erasmus is the patron of The phenomenon is also called corposant, from the Portuguese corpo-santo, holy body. Earlier, it was called Castor and Pollux, after the legendary brothers who were the Greek and Roman patrons of sailors.