                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                                2024 June 18
   A landscape showing a night sky over distant mountains is shown. Lakes
   dot the foreground in front of the mountains. Extending from above the
    mountains into the night sky are six bright jets. The jets are violet
    at the bottom but red at the top. Please see the explanation for more
                            detailed information.

                   Gigantic Jets over Himalayan Mountains
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Li Xuanhua

   Explanation: Yes, but can your thunderstorm do this? Pictured here are
   gigantic jets shooting up from a thunderstorm last week toward the
   Himalayan Mountains in China and Bhutan. The composite image captured
   four long jets that occurred only minutes apart. Gigantic jets,
   documented only in this century, are a type of lightning discharge that
   occurs between some thunderstorms and the Earth's ionosphere high above
   them. They are an unusual type of lightning that is much different from
   regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottoms of
   gigantic jets appear similar to a cloud-to-above strike called blue
   jets, while the tops appear similar to upper-atmosphere red sprites.
   Although the mechanism and trigger that cause gigantic jets remains a
   topic of research, it is clear that the jets reduce charge imbalance
   between different parts of Earth's atmosphere. A good way to look for
   gigantic jets is to watch a powerful but distant thunderstorm from a
   clear location.

                      Tomorrow's picture: dragon fight
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

