In the early morning hours of July 2, 2020, something beautiful and strange was brewing in the sky over western Texas. A forceful storm had built, and a little after 1:30 a.m., a Nikon Z6 camera at the McDonald Observatory, in the Davis Mountains, spotted a reddish-pink formation on the horizon, some 100 miles to the southeast. It was searingly bright and seemed to have dangly bits, like gossamer tentacles on a sea creature decked out for a rave. The sight was a jellyfish sprite—a type of transient luminous event,…
