Strange jellyfish lights that appeared above thunderstorms around the world recently had people talking online. Many were puzzled and curious, with some even speculating wild ideas about alien activity. Now, NASA has stepped in to clarify the mystery. Jellyfish lights are unusual flashes of electricity that occur far above thunderstorms. Unlike the lightning we usually see, which strikes downward toward the ground, these jellyfish lights shoot upward into the sky. Their striking red color comes from how the high-altitude atmosphere interacts with nitrogen, which lights up when these bursts of energy pass through. These flashes happen in the mesosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere located roughly 30 to 60 miles above the surface. Even though they last for only a few milliseconds, they can spread out in intricate shapes that often resemble jellyfish lights, with long, glowing tendrils reaching downward and a bright “head” above. This mesmerizing appearance explains why people started calling them “red jellyfish lights.” What makes jellyfish lights particularly special is how rare they are. They require very strong thunderstorms below to form. Most of the time, we can only see them with special cameras or from space. What might have seemed like a strange, unexplained phenomenon is actually a spectacular natural display of jellyfish lights. The next time you see a powerful storm, remember that somewhere above it, in the upper reaches of the sky, red sprites may be flashing like glowing jellyfish lights in the darkness, silently revealing the hidden energy of our atmosphere.
