Mysterious red lights spotted over Earth by ISS astronaut

There have been some strange sightings from the International Space Station (ISS) over the years.

A space snake, UFOs, strange lights.

For the snake, you’ll have to ask retired Nasa astronaut Dr Story Musgrave, who claims to have seen a white, eight-foot-long reptile on not one, but two missions.

When it comes to mysterious light shows, however, current ISS resident Matthew Dominick has managed to capture some in action.

While whizzing around space 250 miles above Earth, the Nasa astronaut and former US Navy Commander spotted and pictured some dazzling red sprites during a mesmerising thunder storm.

While most lightning is white, and strikes downwards, from the clouds to the ground, red sprites are flashes of coloured lightning that reach up into the mesosphere, around 50 miles above the surface.

According to space.com, they can range in shape from a jellyfish to a carrot, and while ordinary lightning is relatively small, sprites can stretch up to 30 miles across.

Occasionally someone very lucky on the ground might be able to catch a glimpse of red sprites, but they are more commonly spotted from planes or space, due to the storm clouds blocking them from view below.

Commenting on the photo, taken on June 3, Nasa said: ‘Transient luminous events (TLEs), including red sprites, are colorful bursts of energy that appear above storms as a result of lightning activity occurring in and below storms on Earth.

‘The bright red flashes are a less understood phenomena associated with powerful lightning events and appear high above the clouds in the mesosphere.’

Nasa said ISS crew members typically capture TLEs with wide focal lengths during Earth timelapses. Instruments mounted outside the ISS, like Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM), can capture a range of data for researchers on Earth using cameras, photometers, X-ray and gamma-ray detectors.

Which gives them a bit of an unfair advantage for capturing cool weather, to be honest.