'Giant Red Sprite' Appears in Puerto Rico Skies

Recently, the skies over Puerto Rico were lit up by a rare and impressive phenomenon: “giant jets.” These electrical discharges, which resemble “red elves,” are more powerful and extend into the upper atmosphere, rather than descending toward the ground.

About “Red Elves”:

• Officially called transient luminous events (TLEs), red elves are rarely observable from the surface;
• Like conventional lightning, TLEs arrive after electrical charges build up within clouds;
• However, the discharge occurs in the Earth's mesosphere, at an altitude of up to 80 km above the surface;
• The lush red color is formed when the charge collides with nitrogen in the planet's atmosphere.

Cameras capture giant planes and red elves in the sky

In the early hours of Sunday, August 4, during a series of storms, cameras from the Caribbean Astronomy Society captured images of this spectacle. While reviewing the meteor records, astronomers realized they had recorded at least three giant jets, as well as a few red sprites.

According to the entity, the images indicate that these electrical discharges lasted longer than usual, which may have allowed some to see them with the naked eye. After the images were published on FacebookMany people have confirmed that they have witnessed this phenomenon.

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Giant jets are the rarest form of lightning, occurring about a thousand times a year. They are 10 to 50 times more powerful than regular lightning and last less than a second.

These jets are often associated with thunderstorms and occur high above the clouds, at an altitude of between 50 and 85 kilometres in the mesosphere. The light they emit is red, due to interaction with nitrogen in this layer of the atmosphere.

The giant planes were first photographed only in 1989, although there have been reports of observers seeing strange red flashes during thunderstorms. The exact cause of these phenomena is not yet fully understood, but as is known NASA He suggests that it may be linked to an imbalance between different layers of the atmosphere, similar to what happens with conventional lightning.