We’re most familiar with the bright, forking lightning bolts that stretch from thunderstorms toward the ground, but there are even more types of lightning. Pictured here is a gigantic jet, a relatively recently-identified atmospheric phenomenon. Gigantic jets occur when a thunderstorm’s electrical charge escapes upward into the ionosphere in less than a second. The red streamers at the top get their color from heating molecular nitrogen. For other unusual types of lightning, check out red sprites and blue jets. (Image credit: M. Vargas; via APOD)
Leave a Reply