Watch: Rare 'space lightning' phenomenon isn't an alien invasion, but it sure looks like one

MONTEMAGGIORE, France – It's not an alien invasion, but it sure looks like one. 

French photographer Florian Riou captured a scene resembling the villain in a superhero movie in Montemaggiore, France, as red "space lightning" solemnly struck above a French mountain village in September.

Invisible to the naked eye, red sprites are large electrical discharges, usually seen from 30 to 50 miles in altitude in the upper atmosphere, that flash above powerful thunderstorm systems, the European Space Agency said. 

Jaw-dropping viral video footage from Riou captures the red sprites as they flash for milliseconds, casting a nightmarish scene over the night sky for a brief moment, resembling a Hollywood blockbusters version of an extraterrestrial invasion.

HALLOWEEN HAZARD: WILDLIFE OFFICIALS WARN SPOOKY SEASON DECORATIONS POSE A HIDDEN DANGER

Riou said he captured the red sprites in France, on September 16, "after days of calculations and planning."

Sprites are a type of transient luminous event that, unlike regular lightning, do not travel from cloud to ground.

They form when powerful lightning below, often positive cloud-to-ground strikes, produces an electrical field that triggers a discharge way above Earth’s surface, NOAA said.

The sprites glow red when the electrical discharge excites molecular nitrogen in the thin upper atmosphere, according to the University of Washington.

DEBUNKING 7 MYTHS ABOUT LIGHTNING

Sprites can appear as towering columns, carrot-shaped flashes or giant jellyfish, with tendrils branching downward through the sky.