Red Sprites or UFOs? Lightning Above Thunderstorms

Quick answer

Red sprites are transient luminous events occurring high above active thunderstorms. They are associated with lightning, not evidence of a vehicle. A storm-associated red flash is a possible sprite candidate, but a specific photo still needs its original timestamp, location, viewing direction and weather context.

Sprites, elves and blue jets are not one shape

Canada’s weather service describes a family of electrical discharges above ordinary thunderstorms. Sprites are often reddish-orange with branching or hanging structures. Elves and blue jets have different appearances and atmospheric settings. Use those names as hypotheses to test, not interchangeable labels for anything unusual in the sky. A nearby persistent orb and a distant brief upper-atmospheric flash are different observations.

Sources: Lightning phenomena: sprites, elves and blue jets

A dated NASA example

NASA identifies a photograph by astronaut Matthew Dominick from the International Space Station on 3 June 2024, showing red sprites above thunderstorms off South Africa. Its explanatory article was published on 10 July 2024. That provides a documented example and separates capture from publication. It does not identify an unrelated red flash in a later social post, even if the images look similar.

Sources: A Midsummer Red Sprite Seen from Space (10 July 2024; photo taken 3 June 2024)

Why still images can mislead

A long exposure combines light over time, and a cropped image can remove the storm and horizon that make scale intelligible. Check the original frame sequence, exposure settings and any processing. Colour alone is a weak discriminator: red may come from a real emission, camera response or editing. A still picture cannot independently supply the event’s duration or distance.

Sources: A Midsummer Red Sprite Seen from Space (10 July 2024; photo taken 3 June 2024) · Lightning phenomena: sprites, elves and blue jets

A record suitable for comparison

Keep local time with its time zone, camera location, direction, original files and nearby thunderstorm information. Compare the apparent flash position with the storm, allowing for a distant horizon rather than assuming it was overhead. If those details are absent, describe the resemblance as provisional. Our local diagram illustrates checks only; the NASA image remains linked at its original page rather than being used as evidence for an unrelated event.

Sources: A Midsummer Red Sprite Seen from Space (10 July 2024; photo taken 3 June 2024) · Lightning phenomena: sprites, elves and blue jets