NASA Astronaut Captures Stunning 'Sprite' Light Show Above Earth's Atmosphere

A NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station (ISS) has captured a stunning image of glowing red lights in the Earth's upper atmosphere. The bright lights are associated with a phenomenon known as Transient Luminous Event (TLE), which was captured by Nichole Ayers while orbiting above Mexico and the United States.

Sprites are a type of TLE, which create brilliant flashes of light high above powerful thunderstorms and are difficult to observe from the ground.

"Just. Wow. As we went over Mexico and the US this morning, I caught this sprite," wrote Ms Ayers on X (formerly Twitter).

"Sprites are TLEs or Transient Luminous Events, that happen above the clouds and are triggered by intense electrical activity in the thunderstorms below," she added.

The NASA astronaut said they had a great view of the unique space phenomenon above the clouds which could help scientists "better understand the formation, characteristics, and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms".

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

A view of lightning that's nothing like what we see on the ground: crew observations and instruments on the @Space_Station can help us better understand the behaviors of storms. https://t.co/uUpPJUHw9r

— NASA (@NASA) July 3, 2025

Social media reacts

As the image went viral, social media users reacted in awe and expressed fascination at how nature can conjure such a spectacle.

"Funny how we separate everything with borders when up there it's all one place," said one user while another added: "This is the best orbital sprite image I have ever seen."

A third commented: "I simply cannot imagine how amazing it would be to see this sort of thing from the space station."

As per NASA, the ISS crew members capture TLEs using wide focal lengths during Earth time-lapses. Instruments mounted outside the station, like Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), can capture a range of data for researchers on Earth using cameras, photometers, X-ray and gamma-ray detectors.