Hunting the Elusive Red Lightning Above Oklahoma City

As recently as 25 years ago, the world had no clue that huge showers of crimson sparks were erupting in the atmosphere high above thunderstorms. Called red sprites, this fleeting form of lightning appears only for a few milliseconds and is still the subject of much mystery and speculation.

Given their relative rarity and fleeting nature, a researcher hunting sprites (and their cousins, blue jets) can be like Ahab scouring the briny deep for that damnedable whale. When somebody does manage to get a photo of one, they're typically quick to nail it to the Internet's wall for all to admire. The latest image of a red sprite is a doozy: It was taken Tuesday night by Jason Ahrns, a 31-year-old grad student who is conducting night flights above Oklahoma City to study the elusive phenomenon. (Universe Today was the first outlet to the photo.) Ahrns also took this fantastic high-speed video, showing a cluster of sprites shooting off in frigid, high-altitude air. It's slowed down by about 666 times: