Sprites Over Château de Beynac

A flash, and then… something else. Above a storm, a crimson figure appears and disappears. If you see it, you are the lucky witness of a sprite, one of the least understood electrical phenomena in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Sprites occur at around 80 kilometers altitude, well above thunderstorms. They appear moments after a lightning strike – a sudden reddish flash that can take a variety of forms, often combining diffuse plumes and bright spiny tendrils. Some sprites tend to dance on top of storms, turning on and off one after the other. Many questions about how and why they form remain unanswered. Sprites are the most commonly observed type of transient light events (TLEs); TLEs can take various fancy forms with equally fancy names.

This image is the NASA Science Calendar Picture of the Month for December 2025. Learn more about sprites and download this photo to use as wallpaper on your phone or computer.

Text credit: Miles Hatfield

Image credit: Nicolas Escurat