<p>The eerie red lights, which were glowing in the atmosphere of the Earth and above the coast of South Africa, were captured by a NASA astronaut from a window aboard the International Space Station (ISS).</p>

<p>On June 21, NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission commander Matthew Dominick captured the mesmerising image. The red glowing light was actually a sudden flash of a weather phenomenon called 'red sprite' lightning.</p>

<p>Red sprites are said to flash above thunderclouds in the upper atmosphere, known as the mesosphere, which extends up to 53 miles (85 kilometres) above the surface.</p>

<p>In the image, blood-red bursts of energy were seen shining above the coast of South Africa. &nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also Read:&nbsp;</strong><a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/china-is-set-to-shoot-a-space-projectile-at-an-asteroid-in-space-by-2030-will-it-threaten-earth-739985">China set to shoot projectile at asteroid in space by 2030. Will it threaten Earth?</a></p>

<p>"Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa," said Dominick, as he explained the image in a post to social site X. &nbsp;</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa. One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite. A rare event. My knowledge is pretty much just from Wikipedia but I want to know more.<br />
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50mm lens, f1.2, 1/5s, ISO 3200 <a href="https://t.co/CU1JpMwE8u">pic.twitter.com/CU1JpMwE8u</a></p>
— Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) <a href="https://twitter.com/dominickmatthew/status/1803909515630236084?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 20, 2024</a></blockquote>
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<p>"One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite. If there are any red sprite experts out there I would enjoy tips on how to capture more of these. Clearly, look for lightning storms, but I'm thinking the stronger the storm the better," he added.</p>

<p>The image of the red sprites was captured by Dominick from a vantage point which is hundreds of miles above the high-altitude electrical discharges and falls in the orbit within the ISS.</p>

<h2><strong>What is a red sprite?</strong></h2>

<p>Red sprites are a type of electrical bursts of light which are formed above the highly active thunderstorms.</p>

<p>These are found in the D region of the ionosphere, which is the area above the dense lower atmosphere nearly 37 to 56 miles from the Earth.</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;NASA's manned mission to Mars around the corner?</strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/nasas-manned-mission-to-mars-around-the-corner-739024/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>The light appears red at higher altitudes and turns to blue at lower heights. For nearly a century, scientists have known that atmospheric sprites, however, their origins have remained a mystery.</p>

<p>They occur for only a few milliseconds and are comparatively dim in comparison to other lightning.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)</em></p>


The eerie red lights, which were glowing in the atmosphere of the Earth and above the coast of South Africa, were captured by a NASA astronaut from a window aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

The eerie red lights, which were glowing in the atmosphere of the Earth and above the coast of South Africa, were captured by a NASA astronaut from a window aboard the International Space Station (ISS). On June 21, NASA's SpaceX Crew-8 mission commander Matthew Dominick captured the mesmerising image. The red glowing light was actually a sudden flash of a weather phenomenon called 'red sprite' lightning. Red sprites are said to flash above thunderclouds in the upper atmosphere, known as the mesosphere, which extends up to 53 miles (85 kilometres) above the surface. In the image, blood-red bursts of energy were seen shining above the coast of South Africa. Also Read: China set to shoot projectile at asteroid in space by 2030. Will it threaten Earth? "Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa," said Dominick, as he explained the image in a post to social site X. Super lucky a few weeks ago when shooting a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa. One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite. A rare event. My knowledge is pretty much just from Wikipedia but I want to know more. 50mm lens, f1.2, 1/5s, ISO 3200 pic.twitter.com/CU1JpMwE8u — Matthew Dominick (@dominickmatthew) June 20, 2024 × "One of the frames in the timelapse had a red sprite. If there are any red sprite experts out there I would enjoy tips on how to capture more of these. Clearly, look for lightning storms, but I'm thinking the stronger the storm the better," he added. The image of the red sprites was captured by Dominick from a vantage point which is hundreds of miles above the high-altitude electrical discharges and falls in the orbit within the ISS. What is a red sprite? Red sprites are a type of electrical bursts of light which are formed above the highly active thunderstorms. These are found in the D region of the ionosphere, which is the area above the dense lower atmosphere nearly 37 to 56 miles from the Earth. Watch: NASA's manned mission to Mars around the corner? The light appears red at higher altitudes and turns to blue at lower heights. For nearly a century, scientists have known that atmospheric sprites, however, their origins have remained a mystery. They occur for only a few milliseconds and are comparatively dim in comparison to other lightning. (With inputs from agencies)

NASA captures eerie red light above South Africa. Here's what 'red sprite' was doing in Earth's atmosphere

<p>In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS).&nbsp;</p>

<p>The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As the rare lightning phenomenon, called a red sprite, made a sudden appearance, the astronaut from the European Space Agency snapped an incredible photo and a timelapse video. &nbsp;</p>

<p>The space station's Davis camera was used by Andreas Mogensen as he spotted a thunderstorm brewing over Earth.&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>Also read:</strong>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wionews.com/science/iss-discovers-tomato-which-remained-lost-in-space-for-eight-months-667098">A tomato lost for 8 months on space station has finally been found, and it is a big deal</a></p>

<p>"Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world," he wrote in the caption, as he posted the photos of the phenomena on X (formerly Twitter).</p>

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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world.<br />
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What you see here is a picture of a red sprite over a thunder cloud that I took as part of the Thor-Davis experiment from <a href="https://twitter.com/DTUSpace?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DTUSpace</a> ⚡Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs,… <a href="https://t.co/AA4h8anUIf">pic.twitter.com/AA4h8anUIf</a></p>
— Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) <a href="https://twitter.com/Astro_Andreas/status/1728093596430012775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 24, 2023</a></blockquote>
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<p>Since August, Mogensen has been staying on the ISS and has been clicking photos of Earth from the space station's Cupola every Saturday. &nbsp;</p>

<h2><strong>Davis camera captures magic of 'red sprite'</strong></h2>

<p>The astronaut last week managed to capture footage of a red sprite over a thundercloud.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs, that can appear over thunder clouds," wrote Mogensen on X.</p>

<p>"The red sprites form around 40 to 80 km [24 to 48 miles] above ground and as you can see in the video from the Davis camera, the red sprites appear after the thunder has struck and much higher up," he added.</p>

<p><strong>Watch:&nbsp;Gaganyaan: India's first mission to send astronauts to space</strong></p>

<div class="videoWrapper trancodeVideo"><iframe allowfullscreen="" autoplay="1" class="includeVideo" frameborder="0" height="350" src="https://www.wionews.com/videos/gaganyaan-indias-first-mission-to-send-astronauts-to-space-648224/embed" style="width:100%;max-width:560px;" width="560"></iframe></div>

<p>Red sprites are one kind of electrical bursts of light which generally appear above highly active thunderstorms.</p>

<p>The Davis camera of ISS is an event camera which functions like&nbsp;the human eye and senses change in contrast.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"These images taken by Andreas are fantastic," said Olivier Chanrion, who is a lead scientist for this experiment and DTU Space senior researcher.&nbsp;</p>

<p>"The Davis camera works well and gives us the high temporal resolution necessary to capture the quick processes in the lightning," he added.</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies) &nbsp;</em></p>


In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day.

In a rare chance, astronaut Andreas Mogensen captured the unique and elusive "red sprite" from the International Space Station (ISS). The ISS has been orbiting Earth at a height of nearly 250 miles which means that the space station takes around 16 trips around Earth every single day. As the rare lightning phenomenon, called a red sprite, made a sudden appearance, the astronaut from the European Space Agency snapped an incredible photo and a timelapse video. The space station's Davis camera was used by Andreas Mogensen as he spotted a thunderstorm brewing over Earth. Also read: A tomato lost for 8 months on space station has finally been found, and it is a big deal "Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world," he wrote in the caption, as he posted the photos of the phenomena on X (formerly Twitter). Beyond the clouds is a fascinating world. What you see here is a picture of a red sprite over a thunder cloud that I took as part of the Thor-Davis experiment from @DTUSpace ⚡Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs,… pic.twitter.com/AA4h8anUIf — Andreas Mogensen (@Astro_Andreas) November 24, 2023 × Since August, Mogensen has been staying on the ISS and has been clicking photos of Earth from the space station's Cupola every Saturday. Davis camera captures magic of 'red sprite' The astronaut last week managed to capture footage of a red sprite over a thundercloud. "Red sprites are part of the rare phenomena known as Transient Luminous Events, often shortened TLEs, that can appear over thunder clouds," wrote Mogensen on X. "The red sprites form around 40 to 80 km [24 to 48 miles] above ground and as you can see in the video from the Davis camera, the red sprites appear after the thunder has struck and much higher up," he added. Watch: Gaganyaan: India's first mission to send astronauts to space Red sprites are one kind of electrical bursts of light which generally appear above highly active thunderstorms. The Davis camera of ISS is an event camera which functions like the human eye and senses change in contrast. "These images taken by Andreas are fantastic," said Olivier Chanrion, who is a lead scientist for this experiment and DTU Space senior researcher. "The Davis camera works well and gives us the high temporal resolution necessary to capture the quick processes in the lightning," he added. (With inputs from agencies)

Watch | Rare, elusive 'red sprite' snapped: Astronaut captures unique view from ISS

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