Andromeda and Sprites over Australia

What’s happening over that tree? Two very different things. On the left is the Andromeda galaxy , an object that is older than humanity and will last billions of years into the future. Andromeda ( M31 ) is similar in size and shape to our own Milky Way Galaxy . On the right is a red sprite , a type of lightning that lasts a fraction of a second and occurs above violent thunderstorms . Red sprites were verified as real atmospheric phenomena only about 35 years ago. The tree in the center is a boab , which may live for as long as a thousand years. Boab trees grow naturally in Australia and Africa and are known for being able to store large amounts of water: up to 100,000 liters. The featured image was captured last month near Derby in Western Australia .