An ISS astronaut captured images of blue jets in Earth’s atmosphere, which are also known as upward-shooting lightning jets or transient luminous events (TLEs). This is the result of lightning interacting with nitrogen in the stratosphere, and as the jets shoot upward from thunderstorms, they can reach as far as 31 miles.
Technically speaking, blue jets start to form when the positively charged upper region of a cloud breaks down with the layer of negative charge at the cloud boundary. This action results in a leader that transitions into streamers as it moves upwards. The blue color itself is thought to be due to a set of blue and near-ultraviolet emission lines from neutral as well as ionized molecular nitrogen.
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