[Lee Stewart]

With the appearance of a spooky red haze some 50 miles high in the air, this phenomenon, known as “red sprites,” is caused by positive lightning.

As Popular Science explains, “The sprites’ red color likely comes from those ions smashing into molecules in the air. Similar to the aurora, the charged particles excite nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen. The gases eventually settle down and release that energy, some of it in the form of pretty colors.”