Sprite (lightning)

Red lights flash high in the sky.

These flashes happen above big storms. They look like red or orange lights. They often come in groups.

A big lightning strike on the ground can start them. These lights move very fast. They can look like jellyfish or carrots. Some people call them air spirits. They are a beautiful sight to see.

Red lights flash high in the night sky.

These flashes are called sprites. They happen far above big thunderstorms. They live in the mesosphere. This is a part of the air about 80 km high. Sprites look like red or orange lights. They can also have blue parts hanging down.

Some sprites look like jellyfish. Others look like columns or carrots.

How do they start? A big bolt of lightning hits the ground. This strike is called positive lightning. This strike changes the electric field above the storm. It makes the air act in a special way. This creates a cold plasma. Plasma is a gas that carries electricity. In the mesosphere, the air pressure is very low. This helps the sprite form. The red color comes from nitrogen in the air.

Scientists first took a photo of a sprite in 1989. Before that, people only had stories. Sprites can happen over many places. They have been seen in Asia and Europe. They have even been seen over the ocean. We still study them to learn more.

High above massive thunderstorm clouds, strange lights flash in the night sky. These flashes are called sprites, or red sprites. They are large electric discharges that happen in the mesosphere. This is a layer of the atmosphere about 80 km high.

Sprites look like glowing red-orange flashes. Some may even have bluish tendrils hanging below them. They are different from regular lightning. Instead of being hot, they are a cold plasma. This means they are more like the glow in a fluorescent tube.

How do these flashes start? It all begins with a thunderstorm far below. A large bolt of positive lightning strikes from a cloud to the ground. This strike leaves the top of the cloud with a strong negative charge. This creates a powerful electric field in the air above the storm.

In the mesosphere, the air pressure is very low. This low pressure allows an electron avalanche to happen. This is a quick chain reaction of electricity. The red color we see comes from nitrogen in the air.

People have reported seeing these lights for a long time. The earliest known report was in 1886 by Toynbee and Mackenzie. In 1925, a scientist named C. T. R. Wilson suggested they could exist. He even thought he saw one in 1956. However, scientists did not capture a photo of one until July 1989.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota used a low-light camera. They captured the first image by accident. Later, they named them sprites after air spirits from myths. This name fits because they are very hard to find.

Sprites come in several different shapes. A researcher named Rodger categorized them in 1999. Jellyfish sprites are very large and look like sea creatures. Column sprites are large electrical discharges that we still do not fully understand. Carrot sprites are column sprites that have long tendrils.

Sprites have been seen in many places. They appear over North America, South America, and Europe. They have also been seen in Australia and Asia. Even during Hurricane Matthew in 2016, sprites were seen in the Caribbean.

Learning about sprites helps us understand the sky. High-speed cameras show us how they work. One video from 2019 used 100,000 frames per second. It showed that sprites are actually clusters of small balls of ionization. These tiny balls move at up to ten percent the speed of light.

Sometimes, a sprite halo appears just before the main flash. A halo is a flat, pancake-shaped region of light. It is about 400 km wide. Studying these lights helps us learn about the energy in our atmosphere.

High above the massive clouds of a thunderstorm, strange lights flash in the dark night sky. These luminous events are called sprites, or red sprites. They are large-scale electrical discharges that occur in the mesosphere. The mesosphere is a layer of the atmosphere located about 80 km above the Earth.

While they look like lightning, sprites are actually cold plasma phenomena. This means they lack the high temperatures found in typical tropospheric lightning. Instead, they are more similar to the electrical discharge seen in a fluorescent tube. They are often associated with other upper-atmospheric optical phenomena, such as blue jets and ELVES.

The process begins with a powerful thunderstorm far below the mesosphere. When a large bolt of positive lightning strikes from a cloud to the ground, it carries electrical charges away. This leaves the top of the cumulonimbus cloud with a very strong negative net charge. This sudden change creates a strong electric field in the region directly above the storm.

Because the air pressure in the mesosphere is so low, the breakdown voltage is drastically reduced. This allows an electron avalanche, which is a rapid chain reaction of electricity, to occur. The characteristic red-orange color comes from the excitation of nitrogen molecules in this low-pressure environment.

Scientists have categorized sprites into three distinct types based on their visual shapes. In 1999, a researcher named Rodger identified these different forms. Jellyfish sprites are very large and resemble the appearance of sea creatures. Column sprites, or C-sprites, are large-scale electrical discharges that are still not totally understood. Finally, carrot sprites are a specific type of column sprite that features long, hanging tendrils.

Most sprites appear in clusters of two or more. They typically span an altitude range of 50 to 90 km. They often show reddish-orange upper regions with bluish tendrils hanging below.

Humans have reported seeing these mysterious lights for a long time. The earliest known report of a sprite dates back to 1886 by Toynbee and Mackenzie. In 1925, the Nobel laureate C. T. R. Wilson suggested that electrical breakdown could happen in the upper atmosphere. He even believed he witnessed a sprite in 1956. However, sprites were not officially photographed until July 4, 1989.

Scientists from the University of Minnesota accidentally captured the first image using a low-light video camera. They later named the phenomenon "sprites" after mythological air spirits because they are so elusive. Since that discovery, sprites have been captured on video thousands of times.

Research using high-speed technology has revealed incredible details about how sprites move. In 2019, a camera captured video at 100,000 frames per second. This showed that sprites are actually clusters of small balls of ionization. These tiny balls are only about ten meters in scale. They are launched at an altitude of about 80 km and move downward at speeds up to ten percent the speed of light.

A few milliseconds later, a separate set of ionization balls moves upward. These discharges can be horizontally displaced by up to 40 km from the original lightning strike. The time delay between the lightning and the sprite is usually only a few milliseconds.

Sometimes, a sprite is preceded by a unique feature called a sprite halo. A halo is a pancake-shaped region of weak, transient light. It is approximately 400 km wide and quite thin. These halos appear about one millisecond before the main sprite. They are centered at an altitude of about 80 km above the initial lightning strike.

Scientists believe halos are produced by the same physical process as sprites. However, the ionization in a halo is too weak to create the bright vertical structures called streamers. Because they are short and bright, halos are sometimes mistaken for ELVES.

Sprites have been observed in many different parts of the world. They have been recorded over North America, South America, Europe, and Australia. They have also been seen over Central Africa, the Sea of Japan, and Asia.

In 2016, sprites were even observed during the passage of Hurricane Matthew through the Caribbean. While they are associated with large thunderstorms, NASA notes that not all storms exhibit sprite lightning. The exact "root cause" of why some storms produce them remains a subject of ongoing investigation.