Red Sprites: When Lightning Reaches for the Stars

Image credit: NASA/ISS/Nichole Ayers

Have you ever seen regular lightning flash from clouds to the ground during a thunderstorm? Well, there's another type of lightning that shoots upward into space - and it glows bright red! These mysterious flashes are called "red sprites," and they're one of nature's most amazing but hard-to-see light shows.

What Are Red Sprites?

Red sprites are massive electrical flashes that happen way up in the sky, about 50-90 kilometers (30-55 miles) above thunderstorms. To put that in perspective, that's higher than where airplanes fly! They're part of a group of strange lightning-like events called "Transient Luminous Events" or TLEs - which is just a fancy way of saying "brief flashes of light."

Unlike regular lightning that we see striking downward from clouds to the ground, sprites shoot upward from the tops of storm clouds into the upper atmosphere. They're huge - some can stretch 50 kilometers tall and 50 kilometers wide, making them among the largest electrical events on Earth.

Why Are They Red?

The red color comes from something pretty cool happening in the thin air high above us. When an electrical discharge occurs, it excites nitrogen molecules in the atmosphere, causing them to glow a deep red. It's similar to how a neon sign works, but instead of gas in a tube, it's nitrogen in the sky! The thin air at that altitude allows the red nitrogen glow to dominate over other colors.

How Long Do They Last?

Red sprites are incredibly brief - they last only a few milliseconds. That's faster than the blink of an eye! This is one reason why they were so hard to discover and study. You'd have to be looking at exactly the right spot at exactly the right time to catch one.

The Amazing Discovery Story

For over 100 years, pilots and other observers reported seeing strange lights above thunderstorms, but scientists couldn't prove they existed. Some people described seeing rocket-like flashes shooting upward from storm clouds, but without photographs, it was hard to know what to make of these reports.

Then, on July 4, 1989 (Independence Day!), scientists at the University of Minnesota accidentally made an incredible discovery. They were testing a special low-light video camera for a rocket mission when they captured the first-ever photograph of a red sprite. It was completely by accident - they were just filming a distant thunderstorm when, suddenly, they saw these amazing red flashes shooting upward from the cloud tops.

The name "sprite" was given to these phenomena because they looked so magical and fleeting, like the sprites from fairy tales that flit around quickly and then disappear.

How Do Red Sprites Form?

Red sprites are triggered by particularly powerful positive lightning strikes that hit the ground during thunderstorms. When one of these super-strong lightning bolts strikes, it creates an electrical imbalance high up in the atmosphere. This imbalance causes the sprite to form as electricity tries to balance itself out.

Think of it like this: when the really strong lightning hits the ground, it's like pressing one end of a seesaw down really hard. The other end (high in the atmosphere) has to spring upward to balance things out - and that upward "spring" is the red sprite!

Other Members of the Lightning Family

Red sprites aren't the only strange lightning phenomena in the upper atmosphere. They have some colorful cousins:

• Blue jets shoot upward from the tops of thunderclouds and glow blue

• ELVES (which stands for "Emissions of Light and Very Low Frequency perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources") appear as expanding rings of light in the highest part of the atmosphere

• Gigantic jets connect the cloud tops all the way to the ionosphere, reaching heights of 90 kilometers

Why Are Scientists So Interested?

Red sprites and other TLEs help scientists understand how electricity works in our atmosphere. They're also important for understanding space weather and how Earth's atmosphere interacts with space. Since these phenomena happen so high up, they can affect radio communications and satellite operations.

NASA even has a citizen science project called Spritacular where regular people can help scientists by photographing sprites and sharing the images for research.

How Can You See Red Sprites?

Unfortunately, red sprites are very hard to see with the naked eye. They're best observed from airplanes flying above storms, from space stations, or with special high-speed cameras. However, some dedicated storm photographers have managed to capture them using very sensitive cameras pointed at distant thunderstorms.

The best chance to see sprites is to look from a high elevation toward thunderstorms that are far away (at least 100 kilometers), preferably at night when the sky is dark. You'd need a lot of patience and luck!

Fun Facts About Red Sprites

• They were first photographed exactly on July 4th, 1989 - America's Independence Day

• They can be as tall as the entire state of West Virginia

• They happen about 1,000 times less frequently than regular lightning

• Astronauts on the International Space Station have photographed thousands of them

• They're sometimes called "upward lightning" even though they're not actually lightning in the traditional sense

The Future of Sprite Research

Scientists are still learning about red sprites and their mysterious cousins. New technology and better cameras are helping researchers capture more detailed images and videos of these phenomena. Each new discovery helps us understand more about how electricity works in our atmosphere and how our planet interacts with space.

Red sprites remind us that even though we think we know a lot about weather and lightning, nature still has plenty of surprises waiting to be discovered. Who knows what other amazing phenomena might be happening right above our heads that we haven't noticed yet?

Sources

1. Franz, R. C., et al. (1989). Television image of a large upward electrical discharge above a thunderstorm system. University of Minnesota.

2. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. (2023). "Spritacular: NASA's New Citizen Science Project to Capture Elusive Upper Atmospheric Electrical Phenomena on Camera." NASA.gov.

3. Sentman, D. D., & Wescott, E. M. (1995). Red sprites and blue jets: Transient luminous events in the upper atmosphere. University of Alaska Fairbanks.

4. Space.com. (2022). "Red lightning: The electrifying weather phenomenon explained."

5. Earth Web, University of Washington. "Red Sprites Info: Atmospheric Electricity Research."

6. Discover Magazine. (2025). "Watch as This Rare Red Sprite Lightning Strikes Above the Himalayas."

7. Britannica Encyclopedia. "Red sprites and blue jets: Upper atmospheric phenomena."

8. Science Notes. (2024). "Red Sprites - Like Lightning But Different."

9. Student News Network Explores. (2024). "Sprites, jets, ELVES and other storm-powered lights."