This photo taken on Aug. 21, 2025 shows a rare red lightning phenomenon known as "red sprites" captured near Mount Kangrinboqe, a sacred site for followers of Hinduism and Buddhism located at an elevation of 6,656 meters in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo by Chang Dongsheng/Xinhua)

TIANJIN, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- Blink, and it's gone -- Chinese photographers on Thursday accidentally captured a rare red lightning phenomenon known as "red sprites" while shooting the night sky near Mount Kangrinboqe, a sacred site for followers of Hinduism and Buddhism located at an elevation of 6,656 meters in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region.

The photographers were from China StarVision Alliance, which is a platform for nearly 1,000 Chinese astronomy photographers and businesses related to night-sky tourism. During a thunderstorm in the early hours of Thursday, they recorded vivid red bursts resembling fireworks or glowing jellyfish.

Red sprites are unusual upward discharges of electricity that originate from thunderstorms. Unlike common cloud-to-ground or intracloud lightning, red sprites occur when intense charge releases disturb the electric field in the upper atmosphere, leading to a glowing red display above a thunderstorm.

One such rare sight lit up the skies over Xizang's Shannan City between May 31 and June 1, and was captured by Chinese astronomy photographer Dong Shuchang, who then posted slow-motion footage of the phenomenon online. ■

This photo taken on Aug. 21, 2025 shows a rare red lightning phenomenon known as "red sprites" captured near Mount Kangrinboqe, a sacred site for followers of Hinduism and Buddhism located at an elevation of 6,656 meters in southwest China's Xizang Autonomous Region. (Photo by Zhou Bo/Xinhua)