Astronaut captures rare ethereal lightning bolt from space station

A “transient light event” sounds like a euphemism for a ghost, but it’s actually a beautiful phenomenon that can sometimes be seen from the International Space Station. ESA astronaut and current resident of the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet, shared an ethereal blue glow that appeared over Europe.

Transient flare events are caused by lightning strikes in the upper atmosphere. This happened in early September and Pesquet tweeted about this weekHe described it as “very rare”.

The International Space Station is ideally located to study the colorful events described by a host of fictional names, including elves, goblins, and giants. Photographers with sharp eyes can capture it from the ground, as in These amazing views of red goblins were shared in 2017.

“The exciting thing about this bolt is that it was only discovered by pilots a few decades ago and scientists weren’t convinced that it actually existed.” Pesquet said on Flickr. After a few years, we can confirm that elves and orcs are very real and can affect our climate too!

The Pesquet image represents a frame from a time interval recorded by the station. The picture would be beautiful only because the curvature of the Earth and the twinkling lights of Europe appear below. A fleeting illuminated event that is captured at the best moment takes it to the next level.