NASA'S Fermi Catches Thunderstorms Hurling Antimatter Into Space
Scientists using NASA's Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope have detected beams of antimatter produced above thunderstorms on Earth, a phenomenon never seen before. Scientists think the antimatter particles were formed in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms and shown to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about 500 TGFs occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected. Read more
Researchers for the first time have captured X-ray images of lightning, a feat that they hope will help them better predict how lightning moves. Read more
Some UFO sightings could be explained by ball lightning and other atmospheric phenomena, claims Australian astrophysicist Stephen Hughes. The scientist has made a detailed study of an unusual event in 2006 when large meteors were observed over Brisbane. Read more
Space debris falling into the atmosphere may cause mysterious ball lightning.
Thousands of people have seen floating orbs of light, sometimes during thunderstorms, but their origin has never been established. Earlier this year, scientists proposed that ball lightning was merely a hallucination caused by magnetic fluctuations during storms. However, the weather was clear when Don Vernon, a farmer in Queensland, Australia, spotted two green balls descending from the sky on 16 May 2006. Oddly, the second rolled down a hill, bounced over a rock and then vanished Read more
Thundercloud gamma rays hint at origins of lightning
Mysterious gamma ray bursts that occur in the first moments of a storm, as lightning jumps between clouds, hint at where lightning comes from. It is even possible that passengers in planes flying above storms could be bathed in dangerous radiation. Terrestrial gamma ray flashes (TGFs) were discovered in 1994 emanating from the tops of thunderclouds. To explore their origin, Xuan-Min Shao of Los Alamos National Laboratory, New Mexico, and David Smith of the University of California, Santa Cruz, compared TGFs detected by the RHESSI satellite with time lines of lightning. They confirmed the bursts were associated with intra-cloud lightning. Such lightning is more common than intense ground strikes, says Smith. Read more
Swarms of self-charging particles defy gravity - and expectations.
Scientists have explained how lightning can occur even in the driest deserts. A new theory describes how neutral dust can gain an electrical life of its own. For centuries, researchers have known that clouds of neutral particles can sometimes gain a net charge. This can cause even the driest sand to generate lightning, and sugar refineries and coal-processing plants can experience unexpected explosions. Read more
Designed to scan the heavens thousands to billions of light-years beyond the solar system, the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has now recorded some more down-to-Earth signals. During its first 14 months of operation, the flying observatory has detected 17 gamma-ray flashes associated with terrestrial lightning storms. The flashes occurred just before, during and immediately after lightning strikes, as tracked by the World Wide Lightning Location Network. Read more
Lightning's Mirror Image ... Only Much Bigger With a very lucky shot, scientists have captured a one-second image and the electrical fingerprint of huge lightning that flowed 40 miles upward from the top of a storm. These rarely seen, highly charged meteorological events are known as gigantic jets, and they flash up to the lower levels of space, or ionosphere.
Upwards lightning caught on film Scientists have photographed "upwards lightning", a rarely-seen phenomenon where electricity from storms flows into the upper atmosphere. During last year's Tropical Storm Cristobal, lightning reached more than 60km up. Also known as "gigantic jets", these events are just as powerful as cloud-to-ground lightning bolts.