Rare gigantic jet captured from ISS by NASA astronaut

NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers photographed a rare gigantic jet on July 3, 2025, while aboard the International Space Station. Initially thought to be a sprite, analysis confirmed it was an even rarer Transient Luminous Event (TLE).

"Gigantic jets are a powerful type of electrical discharge that extends from the top of a thunderstorm into the upper atmosphere," explained Dr. Burcu Kosar, Principal Investigator of the Spritacular project. These events create an electrical bridge between cloud tops around 20 km high and the upper atmosphere at about 100 km, releasing significant electrical charge.

Such jets are usually observed by chance, sometimes spotted by airline passengers or caught by cameras aimed elsewhere. They occur when turbulent thunderstorm tops allow lightning to escape upward toward space.

Sprites, by contrast, form independently high in the mesosphere, roughly 80 km above Earth, following strong lightning strikes. They appear as reddish glows with shapes resembling jellyfish, columns, or carrots, and can span tens of kilometers.

Sprites may also occur alongside other TLEs, including Halos and ELVEs, forming part of a broader array of upper-atmosphere electrical activity. The Spritacular project invites the public to submit photos of jets, sprites, and related phenomena to support scientific research.