Recently, a NASA astronaut aboard the International Space Station, Nichole "Vapor" Ayers, captured something truly unknown and beautiful a sprite lightning phenomenon stretching cross the skies over the US and Mexico. This brief yet excellent event lit up the upper atmosphere and gave scientists and space energetic alike a moment to marvel at nature’s wonders.

Sprite lightning is not your regular lightning bolt. It’s an upper-atmospheric electrical event that occurs far above thunderstorms, usually between 50 to 90 km in altitude. From the land, it’s almost impossible to see, but from space, it looks like a glowing red or orange jellyfish dancing above the clouds. These events are occurred by powerful lightning strikes below but behave quite unusual from the usual bolts we see in storms.

When Ayers shared the photo, her words summed it up perfectly: “Just. Wow.” Her image offered a different perspective, giving us a chance to understand this mysterious and fleeting phenomenon better. Though sprites have been studied since the late 1980s, many details about their creation and behavior are still not fully understood.

This capture are more than just a pretty picture. It contributes to ongoing research in the science behind sprite lightning and its link with other similar events like blue jets, elves, and gigantic jets. Each of these disclose just how alive and electric our atmosphere really is.

Thanks to this astronaut’s eye from above, we’re reminded of how many breathtaking and curious things are happening just beyond our everyday view. Sometimes, all it takes is a moment and a camera to bring the mystery of the universe a little closer to home.