[Suicide Junkie]

So am I.

If you make them small enough, you can use a cluster of sprites in an arc that hugs the planet surface, and then make them rotate around the z axis either with or against the planet's rotation.

My warppoint generator can be set up to do something somewhat like that, although only in thin bands without some custom tweaking...
Think something like the FQM black hole animation, except wrapped around a planet, and using a cloudy white colour instead of incandescent blackbody spectra.
Also, much MUCH smaller, and shallower, and not contiguous