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Credit & Copyright: Sergio MontÇfar
(Pinceladas Nocturnas)
Explanation:
Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe?
Join the crowd.
Details of what causes
lightning are still
being researched, but it is known that
inside some clouds, internal updrafts cause collisions
between ice and snow that slowly
separate charges between cloud tops and bottoms
The
rapid electrical discharges that are
lightning soon result.
Lightning usually takes a jagged course,
rapidly heating a thin column
of air to about three times the surface temperature of the
Sun.
The resulting shock wave starts
supersonically and decays into the
loud sound known as
thunder.
On average, around the world, about
6,000 lightning bolts occur between clouds and the
Earth every minute.
Pictured earlier this month in a two-image composite, lightning stems from communication
antennas near the top of
VolcÀn de Agua
(Volcano of Water) in
Guatemala.
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NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings, and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: lightning
Publications with words: lightning
See also:
- APOD: 2023 October 2 Á Sprite Lightning in High Definition
- APOD: 2023 September 18 Á The Red Sprite and the Tree
- APOD: 2023 June 25 Á Lightning on Jupiter
- APOD: 2023 April 17 Á ELVES Lightning over Italy
- Star Trails and Lightning over the Pyrenees
- Red Sprite Lightning over the Czech Republic
- Gigantic Jet Lightning from Puerto Rico