By Johnthomas Didymus From Inquisitr

UFO hunter claims rare jellyfish sprite spotted over Caribbean Sea was an alien spaceship, accuses scientists of covering up truth about ET phenomenon

An enormous mushroom- or jellyfish-shaped flash of bright light that illuminated the sky over the Caribbean Sea for a split-second on Sunday has drawn the attention of alien and UFO conspiracy theorists who claim that the phenomenon was, in fact, a form of extraterrestrial craft or alien entity.

Responding to claims by a scientist that it was a natural atmospheric phenomenon called a jellyfish sprite or an A-bomb, UFO hunters accuse scientists of colluding with NASA and government to cover up the latest alleged evidence of extraterrestrial visitation.

The strange and extremely rare phenomenon that appeared for a split-second in the skies over the Caribbean Sea was filmed by Frankie Lucena of Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico, according to CNET. The video (see below) shows the mysterious phenomenon lighting up an expansive section of apparently cloudless skies.

Sprites are among the most elusive of known atmospheric phenomena, Live Science reports. A sprite is a transient luminous event (TLE) often observed occurring in clusters, high above thunderstorms and above the troposphere (see second illustration below).

The phenomenon is distinct from tropospheric lightning, being a cold plasma phenomenon comparable to fluorescent tube discharges.

A form of sprite called a jellyfish sprite appears as a brilliant reddish or orange jellyfish-shaped flash of light with dangling tendrils or tentacles streaming earthward.

Oscar van der Velde, a member of the Lightning Research Group at the Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, confirmed that the flash of light was a special type of atmospheric sprite called a jellyfish or A-bomb.

“This type of sprite is often called ‘jellyfish’ or ‘A-bomb,’ and ranks as the largest type of sprite in both horizontal and vertical dimensions,” van der Velde said. “It consists of a bright halo approximately 85 km above Earth’s surface, surrounding sprite elements with long tendrils reaching down as low as ~30 km above ground level.”

The phenomenon is so elusive that scientists did not believe they existed until July of 1989 when a sprite was photographed for the first time by University of Minnesota researchers using cameras on board a space shuttle.

However, first known eyewitness accounts date back to the 1800s.

Prior to the era of spaceflight that made it easier for scientists to observe the phenomenon, reported sightings were dismissed as folktale or inventions of imaginative minds.

It is believed that a sprite is triggered by the discharges of lightning between a thundercloud and the ground.

“This kind of sprite tends to be triggered by a very impulsive positive cloud-to-ground flash,” van der Velde explained.

But Lucena said he did not witness a triggering lightning bolt. Instead, just before the sprite appeared, he observed a bright but localized flash of light. His observation thus appears to contradict the view by scientists that sprites are triggered by cloud-to-ground lightning strikes. But scientists explained that a cloud-to-ground lightning strike may have been obscured by clouds.

However, scientists admit that the study of sprites is still a new field and that there is still a lot to learn about sprites. Thus, it would not be surprising if scientists discover a new phenomenon or mechanism that triggers sprites.

UFO and alien hunters have seized upon persisting uncertainty about the nature of sprites to suggest otherworldly theories of their own about the mysterious and unfamiliar phenomenon.

According to UFO hunter Scott C. Waring, writing in his UFO Sightings Daily blog, it is obvious that the giant mushroom or jellyfish-shaped flash of light was actually a UFO or an extraterrestrial entity hiding or lurking inside the clouds and soaking up power from electrical discharges during a thunderstorm.

Waring believes that some alien ships actually deliberately create storms so that they can recharge or refill with power from electrical discharge phenomenon.

“It is plain to see there is a giant jellyfish UFO hiding inside this cloud and its soaking in the power of the electricity causing lightning all around it,” the UFO hunter writes. “Some ships deliberately create these storms just so they can feed off of them, regardless of the damage they may cause the public.”

Waring dismisses the scientific theory that jellyfish sprite is a natural electrical discharge phenomenon and accuses NASA of trying to invent new terminologies to obscure the truth about unfamiliar UFO phenomenon.

“NASA is trying to call these sprites, but it is a new field especially created to deliberately misinform the public about these UFOs so they can keep them secret,” Waring argues.

Waring and many UFO and alien conspiracy theorists believe that NASA and its operations are a smokescreen to conceal a top secret U.S. Navy Space Fleet program being run under a comprehensive treaty signed with alien species. The alleged secret space program manages a fleet of advanced spacecraft developed through technical assistance provided by technologically advanced alien races, such as the Grays and Reptilians.

“NASA was created not to find alien life, but to appease the public’s curiosity, but giving them crumbs of information,” Waring asserts. “Thus they can say they are doing their job, when in all reality, they are holding the public back.”

IMAGES:

A jellyfish sprite photographed from the International Space Station [Image by NASA/Wikimedia/Public Domain]

Image shows different types of electrical discharge phenomena occurring at different altitudes in the Earth’s atmosphere [Image by Abestrobi/Wikimedia Commons/Cropped and resized/CC BY-SA 3.0]

For more on this story go to: http://www.inquisitr.com/3529049/ufo-hunter-claims-rare-jellyfish-sprite-spotted-over-caribbean-sea-was-an-alien-spaceship-accuses-scientists-of-covering-up-truth-about-et-phenomenon-video/