Red spites, a type of transient luminous event or TLE, appear in the upper atmosphere above a thunderstorm in Oklahoma in April 2025. Photograph by Paul Smith Our atmosphere is like one big electrical ...

Transient Luminous Events are rare bursts of lightning that occur high above thunderstorms, sometimes reaching toward the edge of space. Unlike ordinary lightning, they flash upward into the upper ...

Nichole 'Vapor' Ayers took the photo as the ISS passed over the US and Mexico on July 3, 2025. “Just. Wow,” Ayers posted to social media later that day along with the stunning picture. Just. Wow. As ...

An astronaut aboard the International Space Station has shared a striking photo of what is known as a Transient Luminous Event seen above a thunderstorm over Mexico and the Desert Southwest earlier in ...

Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) represent a captivating class of high‐altitude optical phenomena that occur in tandem with thunderstorm activity. These brief and often spectacular discharges, ...

A NASA astronaut drifting high above Earth recently managed to capture a rare phenomenon that scientists have been working to understand for about three decades. Known as a "sprite," the atmospheric ...

“As we went over Mexico and the U.S. this morning, I caught this sprite,” the former collegiate volleyball player said Ayers is aboard the International Space Station as pilot of SpaceX Dragon’s ...

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...