Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) have captured remarkable photos of bright flashes appearing above storms on Earth. These flashes, known as red sprites and other transient luminous events (TLEs), occur high in the atmosphere and last only milliseconds, making them hard to see from the ground.
Usually, people see lightning bolts striking between clouds or down to the ground during a storm. However, some of the most spectacular electrical events happen much higher, in the upper atmosphere above the weather.
Red sprites and similar phenomena can appear as strange shapes or colours, like upside-down jellyfish. According to NASA, these flashes can occur as high as 55 miles (about 90 kilometres) above the Earth. One photo shows a large red sprite above storms close to the Texas-Mexico border.
Research relies on the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), an important tool installed on the ISS by the European Space Agency in 2018. This device uses high-speed cameras to capture electrical events that last only fractions of a second. It has shown that lightning can influence the ionosphere, causing lights called ELVES that stretch across hundreds of miles.
Using the ISS’s Cupola observation module, crew members film thunderstorms with special cameras to study lightning. These cameras can record 100,000 frames per second, allowing scientists to see details of lightning in slow motion. Researchers hope to map these flashes and understand their effect on the upper atmosphere.
Test Your Understanding
How much do you know?
