Gigantic Jet Lightning over China
That's
no meteor.
While watching and photographing this year's Perseid Meteor Shower, something unexpected happened: a
gigantic jet erupted from a nearby cloud.
The whole thing was over in a flash -- it lasted less than a second -- but was fortunately captured by an already-recording digital camera.
Gigantic jets are a rare form of lightning
recognized formally only a few years ago.
The featured high resolution color image, taken near the peak of
Shikengkong mountain in
China,
may be the best image yet of this unusual phenomenon.
The same event appears to have been
captured simultaneously by another photographer, further away.
The gigantic jet appears to start somewhere in a nearby
thundercloud and extend upwards towards
Earth's ionosphere.
The nature of gigantic jets
and their possible association with other types of
Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as
blue jets and
red
sprites remains an active topic of research.