In early July 2025, an extraordinary event in Earth’s upper atmosphere was photographed by astronauts aboard the ...

U.S. astronaut Nichole "Vapor" Ayers captured a spectacular view of a phenomenon known as a "sprite" blazing to life above an ...

The mysterious atmospheric "ghosts"—which glow green—are "exceptionally rare," occurring alongside special types of lightning known as sprites.

Thomas Pesquet, an astronaut on the ISS, photographed a flash of red light in the upper atmosphere. The phenomenon, called a sprite, can be seen above a thunderstorm. The picture is a "very rare ...

In the upper atmosphere, this electrical discharge reacts with gases, causing them to glow in the same way electricity fires up a neon light. Green auroras occur at about 60 miles above Earth.

Sprites can take on many different shapes when they form in the upper atmosphere, and McCown says they are relatively rare, and only happen when you catch a storm just right.

Astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky of Konkoly Observatory in Hungary spotted the small asteroid, formally called 2024 BX1, only a matter of hours before it collided with Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Night-shining clouds are historically rare, beautiful formations of shimmering ice crystals hanging in the upper atmosphere that were only visible in the northern parts of the world in years past.

In and around the Arctic Circle, stunning multicolor clouds have been shining in the sky for days on end. It is very unusual to see so many of these vibrant clouds over such a long period.