A NASA astronaut, Nichole Ayers, captured an impressive image of a rare phenomenon: a “red water-shaped” light lightning called Sprite, firing up above a storm in North America
The photo, taken on Thursday (July 3), can help scientists better understand this little known event, which has been studied for over 30 years.
Ayers, Spacex Crew-10 Mission pilot and a member of the 72 and 73 Expeditions of the International Space Station (EEI), took the photo while the station was over a large storm that covered parts of Mexico and Southern US states such as California and Texas.
“Wow! While we passed through Mexico and the US this morning, I captured this sprite,” Ayers wrote on the X social network.
“Sprites are transient luminous events (tles), which happen above clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the storms below,” he explained.
What are Sprites?
Tles are visual phenomena that occur in the high atmosphere during storms.
In addition to sprites, there are others, such as rising blue jets and UFO -like rings called Elves.
Sprites, however, are the most common.
They are called “jellyfish” because they have light branches that spread like tentacles, or “carrots” because of weaker filaments that can form in the opposite direction, such as plant roots.
Sprites appear in large storms, including those caused by hurricanes, and can reach up to 80 kilometers above the earth’s surface.
Its red color comes from the interaction with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, according to NASA’s earthly observatory.
Why is this photo important?
Ayers pointed out that from EEI, astronauts have a privileged view above the clouds, allowing to capture images that help scientists understand how sprites form, their characteristics and how they are linked to storms.
“These photos are valuable to study the tles,” she wrote.
Recently, in March, another EUI astronaut photographed weak red sprites at the top of a lightning “giant jet” over New Orleans.
Another striking example was in June 2024, when a jellyfish red sprite seemed to float alone in the atmosphere, above lightning, as reported by Space.com.
This image of Ayers is another piece for the puzzle of scientists, who keep trying to unravel the mysteries of these rare and fascinating bright phenomena in the sky of the earth.
Published in 07/11/2025 04h30
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption. Information about DOI, author and institution can be found in the body of the article.
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