Mysterious ghostly phenomenon in Earth's orbit

European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Andreas Mogensen on the International Space Station (ISS) on December 5 filmed a mysterious and creepy phenomenon called "red spirit" in low Earth orbit.

"Red sprites" are a type of short-lived bright event (TLE) that appear primarily as ghostly red halos above thunderstorms and at altitudes between 40 and 80 kilometers above the ground, according to Earth.com .

Strange images captured by astronauts on the International Space Station. (Photo: ESA).

In the most recent incident involving the phenomenon, astronaut Mogensen from the International Space Station filmed a "red spirit " above an electrically charged cloud . This was part of the Thor-Davis experiment conducted by the Danish Polytechnic University.

As the video shows, lightning appears before the image of the "red spirit" appears above the cloud. To capture the entire phenomenon, astronaut Davis used a camera that works like the retina of the human eye, extremely sensitive to changes in light, allowing the camera to capture 100,000 frames per second.

Discovered in the late 20th century, since then the " red spirit" has always attracted special attention from scientists and sky watchers around the world.

The existence of the phenomenon was only recorded in 1989, largely due to their extremely brief occurrence and impressive altitude.

Pilots have reported unusual aerial phenomena for years. But the 'red spirits' remained elusive to scientists until researchers acquired high-speed cameras.

The filming of the "red spirit" opened the way for a new field of atmospheric research.