'Red Jellyfish' - a rare beautiful scene but also an obsession of astronauts

Recently, a strange phenomenon appearing in the sky of the Himalayas has been recorded. Although many people were shocked at the spectacular sight, the astronauts had opposite reactions.

In May 2022, the sky above the Himalayas suddenly appeared anomalous. Those were red lightning bolts that appeared, which no one had ever seen before. Many people have recorded and photographed these lightning bolts and posted them online. According to the recorded images and videos, the lightning bolts are shaped like giant red jellyfish with many tentacles floating in the sky.

The sky above the Himalayas suddenly appeared strange red lightning. (Photo: Baidu).

After about a month since red lightning appeared in the Himalayas, a similar spectacle also occurred in Guilin, Guangxi, China. A photographer specializing in capturing the beautiful scenery of Guilin at night accidentally "captured" this unexpected moment. The strange phenomenon has made many people feel bewildered, some even think that this is a "warning sign" of the universe. So what is red lightning? How does this phenomenon form and is it really as scary as some people worry?

Red lightning was accidentally captured by a photographer in Guilin, China. (Photo: Baidu)

"Red Jellyfish" appeared in the sky

In fact, red lightning has been recorded in many parts of the world such as Asia, America, Europe or Central Africa. Currently, only Antarctica scientists have not yet observed the phenomenon of red lightning.

On August 10, 2015, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) captured this stunning picture of red lightning as they watched a thunderstorm over the city in southern Mexico. In the picture, in the right corner, the column of red lightning is rising above the blue-white lightning.

In the right-hand corner of the image, a column of red lightning is rising above the blue-white lightning. (Photo: ISS).

In 2017, Andreas Mogensen, a Danish astronaut with the European Space Agency, recorded irregular blue and red lightning kilometer-wide above a thunderstorm in the Bay of Biscay in the northeastern part of the Atlantic Ocean. Atlantic Ocean thanks to the use of a super-sensitive camera on the International Space Station. Video provided by Mogensen shows 245 blue and red lightning flashes above the cloud above the Bay of Biscay. Irregular lightning flashes up to 18 km above the ground, including one that descends at a distance of 40 km.

In May 2020, Michael Gavan, a hurricane hunter captured a rare red lightning that looks like a giant jellyfish floating in the sky in the state of Kansas, USA. Gavan said he came across red lightning while chasing a tornado in the area. That same year, in the US, on July 2, Stephen Hummel, an expert at the McDonald Observatory also recorded images of red lightning appearing in the area of ​​​​Mount Locke, Texas.

The unusual red lightning phenomenon was recorded in the state of Kansas, USA. (Photo: Baidu)

Red lightning is considered an extremely rare phenomenon. The first photograph of red lightning was taken in 1989. According to historical records, in 1730, the existence of red lightning was identified by Johann Georg Estor, a German historian. He said he had observed strange optical phenomena occurring above the thunderstorm clouds. By 1925, CTR Wilson - a scientist who won the Nobel Prize made the argument that on thunderstorm clouds there is a release of electrical charge. In 1956, CTR Wilson claimed to have observed red lightning, but gave no concrete proof.

However, it was not until 1989 that the actual image of red lightning was recorded by a team of experts from the University of Minnesota with a light-sensitive camera. Since then, the phenomenon of red lightning has become an attractive research topic for many experts.

The truth about "red elves"

Scientists have defined that red lightning is classified as irregular lightning. Red lightning and black lightning, blue lightning, ball lightning, ball lightning. are all strange and rare phenomena of nature. The red irregular lightning is also known as the Red Sprite. According to the European Space Agency, red irregular lightning is an extremely fast electrical discharge that occurs in the upper atmosphere at an altitude of about 60-80 km. It usually appears as red, branching filaments above an area of ​​active lightning. The electrical discharge into the atmosphere can be up to 90 km long, the brightest region is located at an altitude of 65-75 km.

Red lightning is actually a form of irregular lightning, a rare phenomenon of nature. (Photo: Baidu).

The red irregular lightning occurs because nitrogen is suspended at high altitudes in the Earth's atmosphere. This gas is excited by an electric current and emits a red light. The nature of red irregular lightning is to release cold plasma jets, very similar to the discharge process in fluorescent tubes. Lightning rays are usually red, but they are difficult to see with the naked eye and can only show true colors under the lenses of light-sensitive cameras and camcorders.

Similar to normal lightning, red irregular lightning lasts only in the sky for less than a second. Due to the speed and location of formation, irregular lightning is difficult to observe from the ground. Astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) are the most likely to observe red irregular lightning.

Red irregular lightning often appears as jellyfish or red light columns.

Some red irregular lightnings are jellyfish-shaped, others are red columns of light pointing down to the ground. Among them, jellyfish-shaped red irregular lightning usually has the largest size. They can be up to 50 km long, 50 km high or more. Some types of red irregular lightning can be observed from more than 500 km away. The stronger the thunderstorm and the more electricity it generates, the greater the chance that red irregular lightning will appear.

The time when red irregular lightning becomes most prominent is when the Sun is in the minimum phase. This is the period when the Sun is at least active in its 11-year cycle. At this time, its magnetic field becomes weaker, enabling cosmic rays from deep space to easily enter the solar system without being affected. According to several studies, scientists have found that cosmic rays can promote the formation of irregular lightning by creating electrical pathways in the atmosphere.

The red irregular lightning is most prominent when the Sun is in the minimum phase.

Although the red irregular lightning is a spectacular moment that many people want to see with their own eyes, but for astronauts, this phenomenon is an obsession. In the history of the aerospace industry, red irregular lightning is the "god" that has caused many accidents when devices fly higher than thunderstorm clouds. In particular, the crash of a NASA stratospheric balloon that occurred on June 6, 1989 is the heaviest. This hot air balloon, after passing a storm in Texas, when reaching an altitude of 37 km suddenly lost serious control. It was not until 1993 that NASA experts came to the conclusion that the balloon was hit by a red irregular lightning.

Pilots often see red irregular lightning while flying through thunderstorms. They are difficult to study because they often take place above hurricanes.