Mysterious blue flashes in space and upside-down lightning have been caught on film

[Judi Lynn]

Mysterious blue flashes in space and upside-down lightning have been caught on film

Space just got even weirder.

BEC CREW
29 APR 2016


Strange footage captured by Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen while on board the International Space Station has revealed unexplained blue 'blobs', and extensive flashes of light piercing the dark expanse of space, while new images of bizarre upside-down lightning have been captured from the ground.

Presented at the European Geosciences Union meeting in Vienna last week, the incredible shots showcase the dynamic light show that occurs above a thunderstorm on Earth - elements of which no one has ever seen before.

Filmed from the cupola window of the International Space Station in 2015 during violent thunderstorms over India, Mexico, Thailand, and Costa Rica, the footage features rare columns of electrical discharge called blue jets that can fan up and out as far as 12 kilometres.

At this stage, no one quite knows how they form, but the best explanation we have right now is that when negatively-charged lightning hits the ground, it makes the clouds above more positively charged, and that creates just the right conditions for a blue jet to arise, Mika McKinnon explains over at Gizmodo.

More:
http://www.sciencealert.com/mysterious-blue-flashes-and-upside-down-space-lightning-have-been-caught-on-film

[Petrushka]

1. Fascinating!

K & R