Red Sprite over Central Africa | International Space Station

Red Sprite over Central Africa | International Space Station

NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick: "A red sprite shoots out above a lightning strike over Central Africa."

"I was getting setup to take images of Cairo. On the approach across Africa there was a bunch of lightning. Out of 800 or so images there was a red sprite!"

Red Sprites: These mysterious bursts of light in the upper atmosphere momentarily resemble gigantic jellyfish. One unusual feature of sprites is that they are relatively cold. They operate more like long fluorescent light tubes than hot compact light bulbs. In general, red sprites take only a fraction of a second to occur and are best seen when powerful thunderstorms are visible from the side.

Image details: 50mm, f1.2, 1/10s, ISO 3200, denoised

Expedition 72 Updates: 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/

Expedition 72 Crew

Station Commander: Suni Williams
Roscosmos (Russia): Alexander Grebenkin, Alexey Ovchinin, Ivan Vagner, Aleksandr Gorbunov
NASA: Matthew Dominick, Mike Barrett, Jeanette Epps, Butch Wilmore, Don Pettit, Nick Hague

An international partnership of space agencies provides and operates the elements of the International Space Station (ISS). The principals are the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. The ISS has been the most politically complex space exploration program ever undertaken.

Image Credit: NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC)/Astronaut Matthew Dominick

Release Date: Oct. 20, 2024

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