Recently, NASA astronauts captured a spectacular sight above the International Space Station: a massive red “jellyfish sprite” emerging from thunderstorm clouds over North America. This extremely rare high-altitude atmospheric lightning phenomenon has been studied by the scientific community for over 30 years, yet many mysteries still remain unsolved.
On Thursday, July 3rd, while passing over southern Mexico and the United States (including California and Texas), astronaut Nichole Ayers captured this lightning phenomenon aboard the International Space Station (ISS). She is a pilot for the SpaceX “Crew-10” mission and is a crew member of the ISS for the 72nd and 73rd long-duration missions.
“I was so amazed. I captured this sprite while flying over Mexico and the United States,” Ayers wrote on the social media platform, X. She explained that this type of lightning belongs to “Transient Luminous Events” (TLE), which are triggered by intense electrical currents in thunderstorms and occur in the atmosphere above the clouds.
According to a report by “Life Science,” TLE includes various forms such as “blue jets,” ring-like flashes known as “ELVES,” with the most common being the “sprite” lightning. These events emit red light due to reactions with nitrogen in the high-altitude atmosphere and are often associated with intense thunderstorms or hurricanes.
The “jellyfish sprite” is named for its lightning beams extending outward in multiple tentacle-like filaments from the center, also known as “carrots” by some, as they occasionally have thin, elongated filaments hanging down like roots. These lightning events can reach heights of up to 50 miles (approximately 80 kilometers) above the Earth’s surface, varying in shape and size.
Jellyfish lightning was first observed by airline passengers in the 1950s and was first captured on film in 1989. The NASA Earth Observatory has noted similar phenomena in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus in recent years.
Despite decades of TLE research, the Fox Weather Channel points out that scientists still cannot fully explain why only certain lightning strikes trigger sprite flashes while most do not.
While there is a chance to observe TLE phenomena from the ground, the International Space Station provides a unique overhead perspective, enabling simultaneous capture of lightning below the storm clouds and sprites bursting above, which is highly valuable for studying the formation and characteristics of TLE.
“We observe from above the clouds, these images help scientists better understand the relationship and conditions of TLE formation with thunderstorms,” Ayers said.
In March of this year, another ISS astronaut captured a red sprite flash at the tip of a “gigantic jet” over New Orleans; in June 2024, Space.com also reported a photo of a red jellyfish lightning suspended above thunderclouds, likewise observed from the space station.