- Lightning strikes that we see on the surface here are just one type of storm phenomenon, and others happen in places that we cannot see from the ground.
- Lightning also produces incredible images in space above the clouds and extends into the atmosphere in colors we never see from a lightning bolt from cloud to ground.
- A new image captured by NOIRLab researchers offers us an incredible glimpse of two rarely seen lightning features playing at exactly the same time.
We all know what happens when a thunderstorm rolls through our necks from the woods. We get rain, wind, thunder and of course lightning. Seeing a lightning strike from cloud to ground can be a truly spectacular experience – as long as you’re not in the immediate vicinity – but those currents of energy are only part of the lightning story. The rest takes place above the clouds, and you could argue that the rarely seen displays hidden from our view on the ground are actually even more stunning.
In a new image posted by NOIRLab, we are treated to not one, but two such phenomena frozen in time. The image was taken near Mauna Kea, a dormant volcano in Hawaii with several powerful telescopes. What we see in the photo is the lightning directing its power towards the sky in the form of features known as red sprites and blue jets. You can clearly see how they earned their name.
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The photo almost looks fake, and you’d be forgiven for thinking it did. We never get to see a lightning like this, and it’s especially rare to see it from somewhere on Earth rather than high above it. The differences between the jets and the sprites have everything to do with where they are in the atmosphere. Red sprites look like flares with flowing tentacles, while blue jets look like massive beams of plasma fired into space.
This map from the European Space Agency shows the difference between the two phenomena excellently, but since they are both the product of lightning firing upwards, they are still closely linked.
NOIRLab offers some extra context:
Red sprites and blue jets are distinguished by their colors and also by the direction in which they strike. As you can see in this image, the red and blue lights shoot up from the top of the cloud deck, hitting toward space instead of down toward Earth. It is extremely rare to capture these phenomena on camera, and even more so from this unique perspective.
The photo was taken by ground cameras called “Cloud Cams” located near the Gemini North telescope. The telescopes there look deep into space, but this photo is a good reminder that some pretty incredible things are happening here at home.
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Mike Wehner has spent the last decade reporting on technology and video games, covering the latest news and trends in VR, wearables, smartphones and future technology. Most recently, Mike worked as a Tech Editor at The Daily Dot, appearing in USA Today, Time.com, and numerous other web and print outlets. His love of reporting is second only to his gaming addiction.