*Thunderstorms are some of the most spectacular events in nature, yet what we can see from the surface of our planet is only the beginning. *

> There are bizarre goings on in Earth's upper atmosphere, and a new mission aims to learn more about them.

Launched to the International Space Station on Monday, the Atmosphere-Space Interactions Monitor (ASIM) will observe the strange electrical phenomena that occur above thunderstorms.

Sky lab

Orbiting at an altitude of just over 400km, the ISS provides the perfect view of Earth's turbulent weather systems.

ASIM will be deployed aboard the station later this month.

The electrifying effects of storms are frequently observed from the space station.

Yet when lightning strikes downward, something very different is happening above the cloud tops.

#### Known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs), these unusual features were first spotted by accident in 1989.

**** Minnesota professor John R Winckler was testing a television camera in advance of an upcoming rocket launch, when he realised that two frames showed bright columns of light above a distant storm cloud.
**

"We don't really know what's inside lighting. It happens so fast and it's so dangerous... it's hard to get to the real inside physics," he said.

****In the thin upper atmosphere, TLEs are larger and easier to measure.
"To me," he added, "they represent a window to the inside of lightning."****