NASA astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers photographs rare sprite luminous event over Earth

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station has shared a striking photo of what is known as a Transient Luminous Event seen above a thunderstorm over Mexico and the Desert Southwest earlier in the week.

NASA astronaut Nichole “Vapor” Ayers posted the image on social media and said, “Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the US this morning, I caught this sprite.”

Sprites are a type of TLE, which create brilliant flashes of light high above powerful thunderstorms and are difficult to observe from the ground.

There is some debate on whether what she captured is surely a sprite or what is known as a gigantic jet – both are part of the TLE phenomena.

According to NOAA, sprites are often triggered by positive cloud-to-ground lightning strikes, which produce an electric field that extends miles above a thunderstorm into the upper atmosphere.

The phenomenon appears mostly red in color, lasts only a fraction of a second and occurs so high up in the atmosphere that it is rarely visible to the human eye – unless, of course, you are orbiting some 250 miles above Earth’s surface.

“Sprites are TLEs, or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below. We have a great view above the clouds, so scientists can use these types of pictures to better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms,” Ayers explained on social media.

Gigantic jets begin inside the anvil and reach through the cloud up to the ionosphere, which represents what Ayers might have witnessed.

Why some lightning bolts trigger sprites while others do not is still poorly understood by the scientific community.

Other related phenomena include elves, blue jets and ghosts, all of which are known TLEs, and occur well above Earth’s surface in the stratosphere, mesosphere and even the thermosphere.

Ayers is currently stationed aboard the ISS as part of NASA’s SpaceX Crew-10 mission, which launched in March and is expected to remain in outer space through at least August.

During the astronauts’ time aboard the space observatory, the crew will conduct hundreds of scientific experiments, including testing the flammability of material and studies examining the physiological and psychological effects of space on the human body.