A team of astronomers from Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía, CSIC, Glorieta de la Astronomía, and Universitat Politécnica de Catalunya has captured spectroscopy data from a mesospheric green ghost for the first time.

In their paper published in the journal Nature Communications, the group describes their years-long effort to capture data that would explain the nature of atmospheric green ghosts and how they finally managed to achieve their goal. The editors at Nature have also published a Research Highlight synopsis of the work done by the team.

Prior research has shown that during some thunderstorms, atmospheric phenomena known as sprites appear above normal types of lightning. Prior research has also shown that sprites are electric discharges, typically displayed as red-orange flashes in various shapes, which means that they are technically another type of lightning. They are known in the science community as transient luminous events (TLE).

In 2019, a citizen scientist named Hank Schyma, while video recording a TLE, found he had also recorded a greenish glow on top of a TLE. He posted his video on YouTube, where it caught the attention of professional skywatchers. Since that time, both amateur and professional videographers have managed to capture the “green ghosts,” as they have come to be known. Many had been captured on video prior to Schyma’s posting but had not been identified as something new.