1) they aren’t lights; they are ice particle clouds that reflect sunlight
2) they not “space clouds”; they are high stratospheric clouds
3) they are an annual summertime (north & south polar, respectively) event, that slowly expands/spreads in area to about 50 degrees latitude at their annual seasonal peak, then contracting & disappearing as summer also fades. True for each pole, in turn.
4) they are so tenuous that they can not be seen while the sun is up, but their bottoms reflect sunlight after the sun has dropped about 16 degrees below the horizon, until it has dropped far enough to put them into earth’s shadow; reverse in the A.M.
5) some years they are visible farther equatorward than others; some years their ‘season’ is longer or shorter than others.
6) they were first REPORTED in the antarctic in 1885; doesn’t mean they first appeared in 1885, as “some scientists” try to claim by implication. Sprites are a similar, analogous case: they were reported at least since the 19th Century, but “some scientists” (and science writers) claim they were first DISCOVERED in 1989, which is just when they were first photographed.
“Some scientists” (and science writers) can be tricksy little beasties, who play fast and loose with both facts and language, for fun and profit.
Thanks for the reality check...