'Gigantic Jet' Lightning

[Hum]

A rare glimpse of a "gigantic jet" ? a huge and mysterious burst of lightning that connects a thunderstorm with the upper atmosphere ? was made over China in 2010 and was recently described by scientists.

The gigantic jet took place in eastern China on Aug. 12, 2010 ? the farthest a ground-based one has ever been observed from the equator, according to the research team.

Previous jets were mainly seen in tropical or subtropical regions, but this one took place around 35 degrees latitude, about the same as the southern part of Tennessee in the United States.

"This is the first report from mainland China," lead researcher Jing Yang, an atmospheric scientist with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, told OurAmazingPlanet. The results were recently published in the Chinese Science Bulletin.

Researchers got a good look at the storm using a variety of tools, including Doppler radar data and weather pictures in the infrared band of radiation.

The gigantic jet peaked at about 55 miles (89 kilometers) above the ground, far above the cloudtops that were measured with Doppler radar at an altitude of 11 miles (17 km).

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[watkinsx2]

[Arachno 1D]

Ive seen better pictures of UFOs that were dismissed as hoax's :D

[Hum]

It's the hand of Satan.

[DocM]

They're called Sprites, one of several types of high altitude electrical discharge (see below.)

Neat site: http://www.sky-fire.tv/index.cgi/Sprites.html

[Growled Member]

Ive seen better pictures of UFOs that were dismissed as hoax's :D

Yep, terrible pictures but impressive stuff.

[Arachno 1D]

Far Point Station

[Tuishimi]

re -1

Now I want to go watch encounter at farpoint... but... the acting was so wooden and the gratuitous technical stuff trying to cram it all into the very first episode... (showing the saucer detachment, the faster-than-ever top warp speed, etc.) just made the pilot a little annoying.