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"SPACE LIGHTNING" OVER THE CARIBBEAN Sprite season is definitely underway. Only a few days after a widespread display appeared over Texas, more sprites have popped up near Puerto Rico. Frankie Lucena photographed them on May 1st from Cabo Rojo. "They appeared right beside Mars and Saturn in the constellation Scorpius," says Lucena. "The sprites were over the Caribbean Sea just south of Cabo Rojo." Sprites are an exotic form of upper atmospheric electricity, sometimes called "space lightning" because they reach altitudes associated with meteors, noctilucent clouds and auroras. Some researchers believe they are linked to cosmic rays: Subatomic particles from deep space striking the top of Earth's atmosphere produce secondary electrons that, in turn, could provide the spark that triggers sprites. Lucena's ocean-going sprites are somewhat unusual. "A satellite study by Chen et al. 2008 (JGR) showed 49% of sprites to occur over land, 28% over the ocean and the remaining ones near the coastlines," explains lightning scientist Oscar van der Velde of the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain. "As oceans cover a greater area, this indicates sprites are more common over land-based storms." Although sprites have been seen for at least a century, most scientists did not believe they existed until after 1989 when sprites were photographed by cameras onboard the space shuttle. Now "sprite chasers" routinely photograph sprites from their own homes. "They are easily detected by certain cameras," says van der Velde, "and if a storm is in the mood, you may record one every few minutes." 
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