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NASA shares photos of an extraordinary event witnessed by astronauts on the space station
While most people witness only the familiar crack of thunder and flash of lightning from storms on Earth, brilliantly-colorful electric fireworks detonate much higher, in the thin air up to 55 miles overhead, easily seen from the ISS.
These brief spectacles – blue jets, red sprites, violet halos, ultraviolet rings – are collectively known as transient luminous events, or TLEs.
For decades, they eluded systematic study, appearing only in pilots’ anecdotes and the occasional lucky photograph.
The International Space Station (ISS) has changed that by offering an unobstructed seat above the storms, where specialized cameras and sensors capture every fleeting spark.
While most people witness only the familiar crack of thunder and flash of lightning from storms on Earth, brilliantly-colorful electric fireworks detonate much higher, in the thin air up to 55 miles overhead, easily seen from the ISS.
These brief spectacles – blue jets, red sprites, violet halos, ultraviolet rings – are collectively known as transient luminous events, or TLEs.
For decades, they eluded systematic study, appearing only in pilots’ anecdotes and the occasional lucky photograph.
The International Space Station (ISS) has changed that by offering an unobstructed seat above the storms, where specialized cameras and sensors capture every fleeting spark.
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