The circular blue glow is a “transient light event” seen from the International Space Station in September 2021.
European Space Agency / NASA – T. Biscuits
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. European Space Agency astronaut and current resident of the International Space Station, Thomas Pesquet, shared the vision of an ethereal blue glow emanating from Europe.
Transient flare events are caused by lightning in the upper atmosphere. This happened in early September and Pesquet tweeted about this weekHe described it as a “very rare event”.
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The International Space Station is ideally placed to study colorful events, which are described using a range of fictitious names, including elves, goblins and giants. Sharp-eyed photographers were able to capture it from the ground, as with These amazing views of the red goblins shared in 2017.
“What’s exciting about this beam is that just a few decades ago they were spotted by pilots and scientists weren’t convinced they actually existed.” Pesquet said on Flickr. Fast forward a few years and we can confirm that elves and orcs are very real and can affect our climate too!
The Pesquet image represents a frame of a time interval taken from the station. The image would be beautiful just for the way the curve of the Earth and the twinkling lights of Europe appear below. A fleeting light event captured at its finest takes it to the next level.
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