From the explanation of the Meteorological Society of Japan
[Sprite]

A lightning discharge phenomenon that occurs in the stratosphere or mesosphere above a thundercloud when there is a lightning discharge between the thundercloud and the ground. In 1989, a research group at the University of Minnesota succeeded in capturing the image by chance while testing observation equipment to be mounted on a rocket.

Professor D.D. Sentman of the University of Alaska named it after the mischievous elves Sprite Puck in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Research on sprites has developed rapidly in recent years.


(Translated by Google)