Goddard Glossary: Sprites

⚡️ They’re elusive and ephemeral, and we’re studying how they affect Earth’s upper atmosphere. This Goddard Glossary entry is sprites, electrical phenomena that often occur above thunderstorms.

You can submit your pictures of sprites for scientists to study: https://go.nasa.gov/3DxPtpU.

Remember to always be safe during thunderstorms. When in doubt, go inside.

Music Provided by Universal Production Music: “Oh Please” by David Korkis [ASCAP]

This video can be freely shared and downloaded at https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
While the video in its entirety can be shared without permission, the music and some individual imagery may have been obtained through permission and may not be excised or remixed in other products. Specific details on such imagery may be found here: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/14142.
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Video Description:
0:00 A white woman with brown and purple hair talks to the camera. She is in front of a background image of the limb of Earth, a curved dark blue line with glowing lights below and stars above. Above her right shoulder, a bright red burst of light strings is visible, a sprite.
0:07 Zoom into another, similar image of the limb of Earth. A red circle appears around another bright red sprite.
0:12 Image fades back to the woman talking.
0:15 A close-up of a sprite, which looks like a bright red oval with a trail of light red coming out the bottom. Text reads Credit: University of Alaska Fairbanks.
0:18 Video of Earth from space. It is dark and flashes of lightning appear against the blueish black.
0:23 Fade back to the woman talking.
0:28 A grainy, black and white image of a bright, flash of light shaped like a long ellipse with a point on the bottom. Text reads “Credit: University of Minnesota.”
0:32 Pan across another image of the limb of Earth from space, ending with another bright red sprite visible, circled in red.
0:36 Fade back to the woman talking.
0:41 Another image of the limb of space, this one with a slightly steeper angle. A bright red sprite is circled in red above Earth. It is zoomed in enough to see individual streaks of red light.
0:43 Back to the woman talking.
0:45 Earth, centered on the brown and green landmass of Africa, with blue oceans and swirling white clouds, against a black background.
0:46 Earth fades into Jupiter, with brown, orange, cream and red streaks swirling horizontally across its surface.
0:48 Fade back to the woman talking.
0:51 A bright blue sprite, which looks sort of like a tadpole. The top “body” of the sprite is a glowing blue orb. Emanating out from the bottom of the blue orb are blue streaks of jagged light, like lightning strikes. It is labeled “Illustration.”