Red ‘Jellyfish’ in the Sky? NASA Explains the Strange Phenomenon
Jakarta, CNN Indonesia – A rare celestial phenomenon is causing a stir among people online. A photo went viral on social media showing a red flash shaped like a ‘giant jellyfish’ hanging above the sky of Château de beynac, France.
Many people online guessed that this was an alien appearance. But NASA has denied that.
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
According to the New York Post, NASA confirmed the red flash didn’t come from space. it’s actually a rare weather event called a sprite (Stratospheric Pertubations Resulting from Intense Thunderstorm Electrification).
“These brief red flashes above thunderstorms are called sprites,” NASA explained. Thay happen when a powerful positive lightning strike occurs within a thunderstorm cloud. This creates an electric field that causes the air molecules above the cloud to glow red.
Sprites are difficult to see because they’re very short-lived – lasting only a fraction of a second. They also happen high in the atmosphere, around 50-90 kilometers above the ground. You usually need to be quite far from the thunderstorm to see them clearly.
So, while the image looked otherworldly, it wasn’t aliens.It was just a lovely and unusual display of nature’s power!
Related reading