NASA astronaut Nichole Ayers photographed a rare “gigantic jet” lightning burst from the International Space Station on July 3, 2025. The image, taken as the station passed over storms near the U.S.-Mexico border, shows a massive electrical discharge shooting from a thunderstorm into the upper atmosphere.
What Is a Rare ‘Gigantic Jet’?
Gigantic jets are one of the least observed forms of lightning. They erupt from the tops of thunderclouds, about 20 kilometers high, and travel upward toward the ionosphere, roughly 100 kilometers above Earth. The process deposits large amounts of electrical charge in the upper atmosphere.
“These events are rare and spectacular,” said Dr. Burcu Kosar, principal investigator of NASA’s Spritacular project. “Nichole Ayers caught a gigantic jet from the International Space Station, giving us a unique view of this phenomenon.”
The discharge was first thought to be a “sprite,” another type of Transient Luminous Event, or TLE. Sprites occur much higher in the atmosphere than gigantic jets and form after powerful lightning strikes. They often appear as reddish glows with shapes resembling jellyfish or columns.
Ayers had set up her camera in the station’s cupola to capture unusual weather activity. “We have a great view above the clouds,” she wrote on social media. “Scientists can use these pictures to better understand the formation and relationship of TLEs to thunderstorms.”
Rare Bursts Can Disrupt Planes And Satellites
Gigantic jets are difficult to study because they occur far above storm clouds. Most sightings happen by chance, often from commercial flights or from cameras aimed at other weather phenomena. Scientists believe they form when turbulent air at the top of a storm allows lightning to escape upward instead of striking the ground.
Kosar described the atmosphere above thunderstorms as “an electrical zoo,” filled with different high-altitude discharges such as blue jets, halos, and ELVEs. These events can affect communications systems and pose risks to aircraft and spacecraft. Understanding them could improve weather forecasting and aviation safety.
NASA and the European Space Agency are using instruments on the space station to record data on TLEs. The Spritacular project also invites the public to submit photographs of these events, building a global database for researchers.
Few Hundred Gigantic Jets Recorded Since 2001
Don Pettit, a former astronaut known for photographing weather from space, praised Ayers for her work. “To record a photo like this takes skill to set up the camera,” Pettit said. “But more than that, it takes knowing which lightning systems are likely to create TLEs and the willingness to take thousands of images to capture one.”
Scientists have recorded fewer than a few hundred confirmed gigantic jets since they were first documented in 2001. Most have been seen above warm ocean storms, where towering clouds create the right conditions.
The July 3 event adds valuable data to that record. By comparing Ayers’s image with ground-based and satellite data, researchers hope to learn more about the storm’s structure and the forces that triggered the upward strike.
Kosar said that every verified sighting brings scientists closer to understanding how energy moves between the lower and upper atmosphere. “These events remind us that thunderstorms don’t just impact the ground,” she said. “They also reach into space.”
Ayers’s photograph is now part of NASA’s archives and is being used in studies of atmospheric electricity. It also serves as a visual example of how space-based observations can capture rare natural events that are almost impossible to see from the surface.
For scientists, each new image helps fill a gap in the story of Earth’s electrical activity. For Ayers, the capture was the result of patience, preparation, and the unique vantage point of orbit.
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