A Russian satellite designed to monitor the atmosphere for high-energy cosmic rays has detected mysterious ‘explosions’ of light miles above Earth’s surface, Russian scientists say.

While numerous examples of unusual space weather phenomena have been spotted in the upper atmosphere before, the team operating the Lomonosov satellite say what they’ve found may be something entirely new.

Despite the occurrence of several powerful bursts, Russian scientists say there were no signs of storms in the area, according to Sputnik.

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A Russian satellite designed to monitor the atmosphere for high-energy cosmic rays has detected mysterious ‘explosions’ of light miles above Earth’s surface, Russian scientists say. File photo

The satellite, named after scientist Mikhail Lomonosov, launched in 2016 and is integrated with the Kanopus-B spacecraft.

Its goal is to study high-energy cosmic rays, including gamma rays, magnetospheric particles, and transient light phenomena in the upper atmosphere.

And, the scientists now say it’s spotted something odd.

‘With the help of the telescope, we have obtained even more important results than we expected,’ Mikhail Panasyuk, Director of the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics at Moscow State University, told Sputnik.

‘It looks like we have encountered new physical phenomena. We do not yet know their physical nature.

‘For example, during Lomonosov’s flight at an altitude of several dozen kilometers, we have registered several times a very powerful “explosion” of light,' the director said.

The satellite, called Mikhailo Lomonosov, launched in 2016 and is integrated with the Kanopus-B spacecraft

‘But everything was clear underneath it, no storms, no clouds.’

In recent years, unusual electrical discharges have been captured on film by satellites and even astronauts aboard the International Space Station.

There are several types of luminous flashes, most notably red sprites and blue jets.

These bursts of electricity, however, are always associated with storm clouds, making the latest discovery all the more baffling.

The Lomonosov Project is working to get to the bottom of short-lived phenomena such as that recently detected in the upper atmosphere to understand processes beyond cosmic rays and gamma bursts.

While they may occur high above Earth, the effects of space weather can trickle down and interfere with activity down at the surface.

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF 'SPACE LIGHTNING'? While numerous types of space and weather phenomena have been spotted in the upper atmosphere before, the team operating the Lomonosov satellite say what they’ve found may be something entirely new. The team reported 'explosions' of light, though no clouds were seen in the skies below. In the past, similar luminous events have been linked to 'space lightning' - but, these events are always associated with storm clouds. Blue jets are enormous bursts of electrical discharge spiking upward from storm clouds in the upper atmosphere. They emerge from the electrically-charged cores of thunderstorms and rise up to 30 miles upwards in the shape of a cone. Red sprites are electrical bursts of light that occur above highly active thunderstorms. They only last a few milliseconds and are relatively dim compared with other lightning. The late experimental physicist John Winckler accidentally discovered sprites, while helping to test a new low-light video camera in 1989. They show up red at higher altitudes and fade to blue at lower heights. Advertisement

‘We must take into account that the Earth’s radiation belts – the charged particles trapped by the magnetic field, can disappear, precipitate from the magnetic trap into the Earth’s atmosphere, producing in it extensive regions of ionization,’ the project’s website states.

‘The energy of the radiation belt particles is sufficiently high, for instance, there are relativistic electrons with energy of several MeV among them, which can penetrate deep in the atmosphere and by rate of ionization can easily compete against Auger showers.

‘Besides space factors physical processes near the Earth’s surface also have an effect on the atmosphere.’