NASA Astronaut Captures Rare Red Sprite Lightning on International Space Station

TapTechNews July 13th, NASA released a blog post on July 10th, sharing a video from astronaut Matthew Dominick, recording and filming the Red Sprite lightning (RedSprite) in the upper atmosphere of the Earth on the International Space Station.

TapTechNews note: Sprites are a kind of large-scale discharge phenomenon that occurs above cumulonimbus clouds and is caused by positive ground flashes between thunderstorm clouds and the ground.

Sprites emit orange-red light and will flash in various shapes in the night sky. Sprites form at an altitude of about 50 to 90 kilometers above the troposphere. The upper half is red, and the bottom gradually changes to blue. The width is about five to ten kilometers and can last for about ten to one hundred milliseconds, fleeting like lightning.

Astronaut Dominick accidentally captured these Red Sprites when flying over the thunderstorm off the coast of South Africa on June 3rd.

Dominick said: This is a rare event. Almost all my knowledge about it comes from Wikipedia, but I want to know more.

Astronaut also shared his settings and lenses: 50mm, f/1.2, the camera shutter speed is set to 1/5 second, and ISO 3200.