Residents in parts of Norman, Oklahoma, were startled late Wednesday night after witnessing what appeared to be a towering pillar of light falling from space.
The mysterious glow, seen around 11:40 pm local time, briefly illuminated the sky east of the city, sparking speculation online before scientists identified it as a rare atmospheric phenomenon known as Red Sprites.
The event occurred when a powerful positive lightning bolt struck during an intense thunderstorm over the region. Unlike ordinary lightning, which flashes within clouds or between clouds and the ground, red sprites occur high above thunderstorms in the upper atmosphere.
WHAT ARE RED SPRITES?
According to Nasa, these fleeting bursts of light can appear 50 to 90 kilometres above Earth, near the boundary between the atmosphere and space. They often look like jellyfish-shaped or pillar-like structures, glowing red and branching downward toward storm clouds.
Because they occur so high up and last only a few milliseconds, red sprites were rarely observed until the era of modern high-speed cameras and sensitive sensors.
Scientists explain that the phenomenon begins when an especially strong positive cloud-to-ground lightning strike releases enormous electrical energy.
The powerful electric field created above the storm can trigger a discharge in the thin upper atmosphere, producing the crimson flash known as a red sprite.
These events are part of a broader group of upper-atmospheric electrical phenomena called Transient Luminous Events, which also include blue jets and elves.
Unlike traditional lightning, these flashes occur above storms rather than within them, connecting thunderclouds with the edge of space.
Although they may look dramatic, red sprites pose no danger to people on the ground. Instead, they provide valuable insight into the complex electrical interactions between the atmosphere and near-space environment.
The Oklahoma sighting adds to a growing list of documented sprite events captured across the United States in recent years, as better cameras and storm-tracking tools allow scientists and skywatchers to record these elusive flashes.
For many who saw the glowing pillar streak across the sky, the moment looked almost extraterrestrial. In reality, it was a brief glimpse of one of Earth’s rarest lightning phenomena unfolding high above a powerful storm.
