Red light over Hiratsuka identified as rare atmospheric sprite

A mysterious red light seen over Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, was identified as a "sprite," a rare electrical discharge in the upper atmosphere.

The identification provides a scientific explanation for a visual phenomenon that often confuses observers and can be mistaken for other celestial or terrestrial events.

Daichi Fujii, an astronomy specialist at the Hiratsuka City Museum, said the event occurred on July 26 ^[1]. The phenomenon is linked to the presence of thunderclouds, which were producing guerrilla rainstorms across various locations at the time ^[1].

According to Fujii, sprites are luminous phenomena that occur simultaneously with lightning strikes. While standard lightning travels from clouds to the ground, sprites move upward toward space ^[1]. These discharges occur within the mesosphere, reaching altitudes between 50 and 90 kilometers ^[1].

Fujii said the red glow happened because a discharge occurred in the upper atmosphere at the same time as a lightning strike from a nearby thundercloud ^[1]. This specific atmospheric condition created the visual effect captured in the recordings from late July.

Sprites are notoriously difficult to capture because they last for only a few milliseconds and occur far above the typical storm clouds that often block the view from the ground. The confirmation by the Hiratsuka City Museum clarifies that the light was a natural meteorological event rather than an anomaly or man-made object.