6/7/2025–|Last update: 09:11 (Mecca time)
In a rare phenomenon that appears to be a scene of science fiction, the astronaut Nicole Aires of NASA picked up a charming image showing “giant red Afarita” in the form of a jellyfish, suddenly burning in the sky of the night over North America.
This event took place on Thursday, July 3, while the International Space Station was flying over a huge thunderstorm covering parts of Mexico and South American states, such as California and Tixas.
Aires, an important leader “SpaceX Crowe-10” and the two missions of the International Space Station 72 and 73, shared the image through her account on the X platform, and wrote a surprise: “O wonder! While we were flying over Mexico and the United States this morning, I picked up this impurity.”
Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite.
Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below. We have a great view above the clouds, so… pic.twitter.com/dCqIrn3vrA
— Nichole “Vapor” Ayers (@Astro_Ayers) July 3, 2025
What is this “impure”?
We are not talking about impurities, of course, but we are facing a kind of rare weather phenomenon called “lightning maneuvers”, and scientifically joins under the list of “transit optical phenomena” that usually occur in the upper layers of the atmosphere, at a height of 50 to 90 km above the surface of the earth.
In this case, violent electrical activity in thunderstorms leads to a huge electrical discharge that extends up to the bottom, this huge electric charge can cause disturbance in the upper layers of the atmosphere.
This disorder stimulates ions and molecules in that region from the atmosphere, generating a shiny red glow that extends up, rather than going to the ground like traditional lightning.
These phenomena are usually colored due to the interaction of electrical discharge with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere, as nitrogen reigns a red light when it raises its electronics.
The jellyfish imp.
The oldest monitoring of this phenomenon is in 1886 by researchers, Tinby and Makinzi, and they recorded the observation in the journal NatureAnd its first photo was chance on July 6, 1989 by scientists from the University of Minnesota using a low -light video camera, a few years later this phenomenon was called “lightning mates” due to its hidden nature and the difficulty of monitoring it.
Since then, it was filmed from Earth, aircraft to space and became the subject of intense research, and in 2019, a high -speed video team took a rate of 100,000 frames per second, revealing more accurate details how they form.
In study In 1999, the Reviors of Geophysxal Patrol, Craig Rodger, divided the phenomenon of spites into 3 categories, according to its shape as seen in the eye.
The largest of all lightnings is considered lightning, and its size can reach a square of 50 kilometers long, and is similar to the shape of the jellyfish with optical arms extending down.
The second is the pillar of the column, and it appears in the form of long columns and a vertical extended from the top to the bottom, and it is one of the most common shapes, and thirdly comes the irregular form, and includes any other forms, which are less common.
Although scientists have been studying these phenomena for more than 30 years, many of their secrets are still ambiguous, including how they are accurately formed and their effect on the upper atmosphere layers.
Hence, this image captured from space does not document just an amazing optical event, but rather gives researchers a new window to understand the huge electrical powers that govern our planet.