Imagine floating in the vastness of space and witnessing scenes straight out of a sci-fi flick. Well, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently experienced just that.
They stumbled upon an eerie display of glowing red lights in the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving them utterly perplexed. This otherworldly sight was captured by Matthew Dominick, the commander of the SpaceX Crew-8 mission, on June 3.
The image showcases these mysterious lights suspended in space. But before you jump to conclusions about extraterrestrial encounters, NASA has a more earthly explanation for this phenomenon.
These glowing apparitions are known as ‘red sprites,’ and they usually occur above thunder clouds in the mesosphere, which is the upper layer of the atmosphere, about 53 miles above the Earth.
The lights, which were hovering above the coast of South Africa according to their coordinates, appeared vertically aligned, almost like an array of bizarre spacecraft.
NASA is using this captivating image to encourage the public to participate in their ‘Spritacular’ project—a citizen science initiative aimed at collecting images of sprites and other atmospheric phenomena.
Matthew Dominick shared the photo on X, explaining how he captured it during a timelapse of a lightning storm off the coast of South Africa. One of the frames fortuitously included a red sprite. Dominick, a former naval test pilot and fighter pilot commander before his NASA days, is eager for tips on capturing more of these phenomena.
He suggested that perhaps the strength of the storm might increase the chances of spotting more sprites.
Dr. Burcu Kosar, the principal investigator for Spritacular, emphasized the importance of this project. She noted that while many stunning images of sprites are captured, they often go unnoticed by the scientific community because they are scattered across the internet.
NASA’s press release called for the public’s assistance in documenting these ‘Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), including red sprites, which are colorful bursts of energy seen above storms due to lightning activities happening below.
The ISS crew often captures such TLEs accidentally while conducting timelapses of the Earth using cameras equipped with wide focal-length lenses. However, they also use specialized equipment like the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) for more scientific observations.
With a little luck and the public’s enthusiastic participation in projects like Spritacular, we may soon see more such stunning captures of these celestial light shows.