Sprite lightning

Okay kiddo, so you know what a sprite is? It's not a fizzy drink, but a big flash of light that appears in the sky above thunderstorms - like a giant spark that flies out of the storm cloud! Scientists call them Transient Luminous Events, which just means they don't stick around for long.

Now, imagine you're playing with your favorite toy in your room when suddenly there's a flash of lightning outside - it's so bright you can see it through your window! That's because lightning is the biggest spark in the world and it makes a lot of light.

Well, sometimes when there's a really big thunderstorm, it can make a special kind of lightning that's so big and bright, it goes all the way up into space! You can't see it from the ground, but astronauts can see it from the International Space Station because it's so high up.

That special kind of lightning is called sprite lightning because it looks like little sprites dancing in the sky - like Tinker Bell in your favorite movie. It's not dangerous like regular lightning because it's too far away from us, but it's very pretty to see if you're an astronaut in space!