Majestic And Haunting Red Jellyfish Lightning Over Texas Captured In Brilliant Photos

These haunting spurts of lightning have been dubbed “sprites.” Scientists have been documenting rare phenomenon in recent years: streaks of red lightning that resemble the tentacles of a glowing crimson jellyfish hanging high from the sky.

"The more powerful the storm and the more lightning it produces, the more likely it is to produce a sprite," Hummel noted. The red glow of the sprite is a result of nitrogen gas high in the atmosphere getting excited by the bursts of electricity resulting from lightning strikes. As a sprite sparks, it turns red because of nitrogen floating high in Earth's atmosphere. The gas gets excited by the burst of electricity and emits a red glow.