Astronaut Andreas Mogensen from the European Space Agency (ESA) captured a mysterious and eerie phenomenon known as “red sprite” while aboard the International Space Station (ISS) on December 5.
“Red sprites” are a type of transient luminous event (TLE), primarily appearing as ghostly red glows above thunderstorm regions at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometers above the Earth’s surface, according to Earth.com.
Strange image captured by the astronaut on the International Space Station. (Photo: ESA).
In a recent event related to the phenomenon, Astronaut Mogensen recorded images of the “red sprite” above a charged cloud. This was part of a experiment called Thor-Davis conducted by the Technical University of Denmark.
As shown in the video, lightning strikes appear before the “red sprite” reveals itself above the cloud. To capture the entire phenomenon, Astronaut Davis used a camera that functions similarly to the human retina, highly sensitive to changes in light, allowing the camera to record at a speed of 100,000 frames per second.
Discovered in the late 20th century, the “red sprite” has since attracted significant interest from the scientific community and skywatchers around the world.
The existence of this phenomenon was only documented in 1989, largely due to its extremely brief appearance and impressive altitude.
For years, pilots have reported unusual phenomena in the sky. However, “red sprites” remained elusive to scientists until researchers acquired fast enough cameras.
The ability to capture “red sprites” has paved the way for exploring a new field in atmospheric research.
