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Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? Join the crowd. Oddly, nobody knows exactly how lightning is produced. What is known is that charges slowly separate in some clouds causing rapid electrical discharges (lightning), but how electrical charges get separated in clouds remains a topic of much research. 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. Lightning bolts are common in clouds during rainstorms, and on average 44 lightning bolts occur on the Earth every second. Pictured, over 60 images were stacked to capture the flow of lightning-producing storm clouds in July over Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA. via NASA ift.tt/2ha4WUe
The record breaking and world famous Catatumbo lightning at Maracaibo´s lake
El mundialmente famoso y record Guinness rayo del Catatumbo
This photo was taken at the same time as the Church of Christ lightning. Olympus OMG 35mm camera, Kodak ISO 100 film, exposure unknown.
I have a brand new toy :D
[this is a test for a project about holy pictures and their "dark side" :)]
Every year during May and early June the lightning storms roll around the Thermaikos bay, always threatening to engulf Thessaloniki, but for some reason they never do. I was out on the balcony taking pictures and managed to capture this less than half a hour ago.
I know these might not look like spectacular pictures, but they’re incredibly difficult to take. Ever heard the expression “quick as lightning”? So in the same split-second, you have to spot the lightning bolt in a sea of black clouds from 400 km above, aim at this minuscule white dot with your viewfinder and a big 800mm lens, focus (in the dark), and shoot. Needless to say this is impossible unless you figure out another technique… Oh well, maybe looking at the thunder striking the planet from above the massive night clouds doesn’t impress you, but I find it excessively beautiful and menacing, like swimming in deep dark waters at night and wondering what’s below you… Huge respect to Andreas Mogensen who only spent eight days on the ISS but still managed to capture a lightning strike and an even more elusive blue jet erupting upwards from it. His photo (well it was a video still actually) encouraged the "space storm hunter" ASIM facility that is now outside the Columbus module. It is purpose-built to take pictures like this, but they are not so beautiful as they use different wavelengths that are much more interesting and useful to scientists. Also it takes 720 pictures of our planet a minute... continuously, how can we compete with that? Come to think of it, Andreas must be an extremely lucky guy! ;) ASIM is revealing things nobody knew about thunderstorms, explaining new phenomena and discovering new ways of how lightning is interacting with our atmosphere and influencing our climate! www.esa.int/asim
Survolés de nuit, les orages sont spectaculaires, à la fois magnifiques et un peu inquiétants – un peu comme nager de nuit dans des eaux sombres sans savoir ce qui se cache dans les profondeurs... On devine la couverture nuageuse qui recouvre les lumières des villes et donne une texture ouatée au noir du sol, et puis de manière aléatoire, une espèce de boule de lumière s’allume ici et là et dessine les contours du nuage jusqu’ici complètement indistinct dans l’obscurité.
Pendant ma première mission, je n’ai jamais réussi à prendre d’orages en photo de nuit, pour la simple raison que la durée d’un éclair ne donne pas le temps de viser, faire la mise au point et prendre la photo… Cette fois-ci j’ai changé de tactique : je vise une zone d’orages intense avec une mise au point qui devrait être la bonne et je prends les photos au hasard en espérant avoir la chance qu’un éclair claque au moment où j’appuie sur le déclencheur (et que mon exposition et ma mise au point sont correctes). Pour une fois, après 5 minutes de mitraillage, je ne suis pas revenu bredouille de la chasse aux éclairs. Mon collègue et ami Andy Mogensen a quant à lui réussi à photographier des jets bleus jaillissant par-dessus un orage pendant sa mission en 2015, dans le cadre de l’expérience THOR, et a ainsi permis de lever le voile sur un phénomène jusque-là resté très mystérieux. A la suite de son cliché, l’ESA a fait installer l'équipement ASIM sur l’extérieur de la Station, capable de mitrailler les orages (longueurs d'ondes différentes et 720 photos par minute !). On a encore beaucoup à apprendre sur la foudre, notamment comment elle interagit avec notre atmosphère et influence notre climat.
Credits: ESA/NASA–T. Pesquet
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The record breaking and world famous Catatumbo lightning at Maracaibo´s lake
El mundialmente famoso y record Guinness rayo del Catatumbo