Gigantic jets are a form of lightning discharge
On August 4, 2024, intense thunderstorms exploded about 100 miles (160 km) southeast of Puerto Rico. Some observers reported seeing a pair highly effective bursts {of electrical} cost with their eyes alone, as some form of temporary “crimson lighting”. These uncommon phenomena are often known as gigantic jets. Gigantic jets are a form of lightning discharge that occurs above thunderstorms. Whereas most lightning discharge happens between clouds and the bottom, “gigantic jets” begin on the cloud tops and attain all the way in which into the ionosphere.
Meteor cameras from the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean captured photographs of the curious occasion. Monochromatic (black and white) cameras present good element of the form or construction of those gigantic jets, whereas a shade digital camera reveals a burst of crimson mild going upward.
Although gigantic jets are related to thunderstorms, you may typically see them on clear, starry nights. That’s as a result of the storm they’re linked to could be so far-off as to be past Earth’s curvature from the observer’s perspective. The storm is nearer to the bottom whereas the large jets stretch all the way in which to the ionosphere. The ionosphere begins some 30 miles (48 km) above the bottom, and gigantic jets can attain some 50 miles (80 km) above Earth.
In truth, gigantic jets are so excessive above Earth that astronauts aboard the Worldwide Area Station captured one close to Thailand on July 1, 2024.
Extra on this distinctive lightning
Gigantic jets could be as a lot as 10 instances bigger than peculiar lighting, in response to a 2022 study by the Georgia Institute of Expertise. They’re additionally separate from an identical phenomenon often known as red sprites. Gigantic jets are extra uncommon than crimson sprites, an identical phenomenon that may happen above storms. NASA said:
The bottoms of gigantic jets seem just like a cloud-to-above strike known as blue jets, whereas the tops seem just like upper-atmosphere crimson sprites.
Backside line: On August 4, 2024, gigantic jets – a uncommon sort of lightning – exploded off the coast of Puerto Rico. Cameras from the Astronomical Society of the Caribbean caught video of this distinctive occasion.
Read more: Blue jets, red sprites and other flashes
