Seas Of Life

Sylvia

Nene Demunster

Shelton, Nebraska

Ricky Forbes

Johnny Adolphson

Jesse Bigham

Alaska

Casey Cooper

This isn’t lightning, it’s what happens above lightning.

More than 50 miles (80 km) above a powerful thunderstorm, a massive red sprite complex briefly erupted over Oklahoma's night sky.

Sprites are among the rarest electrical events on Earth. They occur high in the mesosphere after intense positive lightning strikes release enormous amounts of energy into the upper atmosphere.

The glowing red columns are caused by nitrogen molecules being excited in extremely thin air, creating flashes that can stretch for tens of miles across the sky.

Look closely and you'll notice faint tendrils hanging beneath the main structure.

Those are secondary events known as troll jets - short-lived discharges that sometimes appear below large sprite outbreaks.

The faint green layer visible behind them isn't an aurora.

It's airglow, a natural emission from Earth's upper atmosphere that becomes visible under very dark skies and long exposures.

No special effects.

No digital manipulation.

No Al generation.

Just a camera pointed at one of the most extraordinary electrical phenomena our planet can produce.

For a few milliseconds, the atmosphere revealed a world that normally exists completely unseen above our heads.