joshikarthikey

Soooo you are telling me that we still haven't fully understood something as fundamental as lightning and it's still an active area of research...

nomilk

That 7 second video of a small rocket shot into a cloud to induce a lightning strike (about half way down the article) is incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BJIiX9_c_M

Any ideas why the lightning strike appears mostly green (and momentarily purple and orange)?

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fguerraz

So, nothing new?

The cosmic ray hypothesis has been dominant for a few years now.

This magazine…

freehorse

Tl;dr lightings may be caused by electrons/positrons from outer space hitting a cloud and initiating an "avalanche" of electrons.

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metalman

just in case you missed it, all matter carrys a charge, and all space(and matter) has energy radiating through it, making the universe an energy gradient.

sometimes you can see it happening.