NASA’s captivating image reveals gigantic jets soaring from a thunderstorm towards the Himalayas in China and Bhutan.
The composite image, featured on NASA’s Astronomy Picture of the Day last week, captures four long jets within minutes of each other.
As per the description, the image captured four gigantic jets occurring only minutes apart. These phenomena, documented only in this century, are lightning discharges between certain thunderstorms and the Earth’s ionosphere high above them.
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“They are an unusual type of lightning that is much different from regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottoms of gigantic jets appear similar to a cloud-to-above strike called blue jets, while the tops appear similar to upper-atmosphere red sprites,” added the description.
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What are Gigantic jets?
Gigantic jets are electrical discharge phenomena that originate within thunderstorms but differ significantly from blue jets and sprites. They initiate as intracloud flashes between the thundercloud’s middle negative and upper positive charge regions.
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The process begins with a negatively charged leader moving upward from the cloud toward the ionosphere. Unlike blue jets, which start between the upper positive charge region and a negative screening layer, gigantic jets reach much higher altitudes, terminating at around 90 km (55 miles) above the Earth’s surface.
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While the exact cause of gigantic jets remains a subject of ongoing research, it is evident that these jets play a role in balancing electrical charge across various layers of the Earth’s atmosphere.
One effective method to observe gigantic jets is by observing intense thunderstorms from a vantage point with clear visibility,NASA said.
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Published: 26 Jun 2024, 12:42 PM IST