Eerie, ultra-detailed photo of a lightning ‘sprite’ exposes one of nature’s least understood phenomena

An astronomer lately captured some of the detailed-ever pictures of a uncommon kind of upward-shooting purple lightning, generally known as a sprite, which briefly hovered within the air like a huge jellyfish throughout a thunderstorm over central Europe. 

Stanislav Kaniansky, an astronomer on the Banská Bystrica Observatory in Slovakia, snapped the sprite close to his dwelling in Látky, Slovakia, on Aug. 14, Spaceweather.com reported. The luminous, zig-zagging construction measured greater than 31 miles (50 kilometers) throughout and lasted for just some fractions of a second earlier than disappearing.