The International Space Station has captured a photo of what in known as "Earth's tallest lightning".
This form of lighting, known as a gigantic jet, is a type of discharge that occurs between thunderstorms and the Earth's ionosphere, 50 miles up, according to NASA.
Gigantic jets differ from regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning and appear similar to another type of lighting known as blue jets: flashes that shoot from the tops of thunderstorms toward the edge of space.
Exactly what causes the phenomenon is still unclear, but it is believed that the enormous jets reduce the charge imbalance between different parts of Earth's atmosphere.
Photographs of the phenomenon are rare, with the gigantic jets being first documented around 2002.
Now a new photograph taken on board the International Space Staton (ISS) has shown the lightning at full force.
Taken on November 19, at 00.26 Eastern time, the photograph was snapped while the ISS was over North America at an altitude of 223 nautical miles.
Space enthusiast Frankie Lucena, from Puerto Rico, recognized the gigantic jet while searching through a NASA image archive, Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth.
He said in a statement to Space Weather Gallery: "I checked the ISS data base for pics before and after the event and found that there were 4 photos related to this Gigantic Jet Lightning event.
"According to some preliminary analysis, the location of this [gigantic jet] event is south of New Orleans and over the Gulf of Mexico."
While most documented gigantic jets have been observed from space, it is possible to see them from Earth. In March 2024, a pilot went viral for sharing his cockpit view of a storm, where among flashes of lightning, a striking pink and purple beam was seen shooting upwards towards the ionosphere.
He wrote in a caption alongside the incredible clip: "Encountered a cosmic marvel!
"Captured the surreal beauty of a gigantic jet phenomenon during my night flight, a sight that feels straight out of a sci-fi movie! Did you know about this fascinating 'natural' phenomenon?"
Instagram users at the time were blown away, with one user calling it "one of the most extraordinary captures I've ever, ever seen."
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