NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers captured a stunning image of a rare red lightning phenomenon known as a “sprite” from the International Space Station on July 3. The jellyfish-shaped electrical burst was seen rising above a massive thunderstorm over Mexico and the southern U.S., including parts of California and Texas.
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Sprites are large-scale electrical discharges that occur high in the mesosphere, triggered by positive lightning strikes.
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Part of a group of upper-atmosphere events called Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), sprites are still not fully understood, despite decades of research.