  Sprites are a spectacular type of transient luminous events (TLE) which occur
above thunderstorms immediately after lightning. They have shapes of giant
jellyfish, carrots or columns and last tens of milliseconds. In Earth's
atmosphere, sprites mostly emit in red and blue wavelengths from excited N2 and
N2+ and span a vertical range between 50 and 90 km above the surface. The
emission spectra, morphology and occurrence heights of sprites reflect the
properties of the planetary atmosphere they inhabit and are related to the
intensity of the initiating parent lightning.. This paper presents results of
theoretical calculations of the expected occurrence heights of sprites above
lightning discharges in the CO2 atmosphere of Venus, the N2 atmosphere of Titan
and the H2-He atmosphere of Jupiter. The expected emission features are
presented and the potential of detecting sprites in planetary atmospheres by
orbiting spacecraft is discussed.
