Lightning, sprites, camera, action! ⚡ Red sprites are fleeting, jellyfish-like bursts of electricity that appear 31-53 miles (50-85 km) above Earth, far above thunderstorms. These towering electrical discharges, sometimes stretching up to 12-18 miles (20-30 km), send pulses of energy toward the ionosphere instead of down to Earth. Despite being reported by pilots for nearly a century, they were dismissed as myths until scientists captured the first photographic evidence in 1989. Now, an astronau