Astronaut photographs mysterious red sprites from space

By Dean Murray via SWNS

An astronaut has photographed mysterious red sprites from space.

A jaw-dropping image by NASA's Matthew Dominick shows storm flashes above the Earth.

A group of distinctive sprites can be seen above one of these lightning events, from the vantage point 250 miles up aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

NASA says of the picture taken on June 3: "Several transient luminous events illuminate pockets of Earth’s upper atmosphere. A line of thunderstorms off the coast of South Africa powers the rare phenomena."

They add: "The bright red flashes are a less understood phenomena associated with powerful lightning events and appear high above the clouds in the mesosphere.

"Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), including red sprites, are colorful bursts of energy that appear above storms as a result of lightning activity occurring in and below storms on Earth."

NASA says ISS crew members typically capture TLEs with wide focal lengths during Earth timelapses. Instruments mounted outside the ISS, like Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), can capture a range of data for researchers on Earth using cameras, photometers, and X-ray and gamma-ray detectors.