While watching and photographing this year's Perseid Meteor Shower,
something unexpected happened: a gigantic jet erupted from a nearby
cloud. The whole thing was over in a flash -- it lasted less than a
second -- but was fortunately captured by an already-recording digital
camera.
Gigantic jets are a rare form of lightning
recognized formally only a few years ago. The featured high resolution
color image, taken near the peak of Shikengkong mountain in China, may
be the best image yet of this unusual phenomenon. The same event appears
to have been captured simultaneously by another photographer, further
away. The gigantic jet appears to start somewhere in a nearby
thundercloud and extend upwards towards Earth's ionosphere. The nature
of gigantic jets and their possible association with other types of
Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as blue jets and red sprites
remains an active topic of research.
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