A very rare atmospheric phenomenon known as a 'sprite' has been spotted over Armagh.

It was detected by cameras operated by the Armagh Observatory. The discovery was made around the time of the big thunderstorm that affected Dublin on the 24th/25th of July.

It shows a carrot-shaped flash of light rising high above the thunder clouds as seen from Armagh.

The Armagh Observatory says that unlike common lightning, which often jump between clouds, sprites are associated with similarly powerful electrical fields that occur high above the clouds of the Earth’s atmosphere.

A moving picture of the phenomenon

"They are often associated with particularly intense thunderstorms and exceptionally powerful positive cloud-to-ground lightning strokes that are sometimes seen to occur during such storms" it says.

"Sprites are observed at typical heights ranging from around 50 to 100 kilometres, in the so-called 'middle' part of the Earth’s atmosphere known as the mesosphere. This is the region sandwiched between the stratosphere and the much more tenuous thermosphere, which ultimately merges into interplanetary space" it adds.

They are very energetic phenomena and have sizes ranging up to several tens of kilometres across. They are usually red in colour, which is difficult for the human eye to see, and last at most for up to a few hundredths of a second which also makes them very difficult to see.