'Gigantic jet' that shot into space may be the most powerful lightning bolt ever detected

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This lightning bolt over Oklahoma was one of the rarest and most powerful on Earth.

The sky turns dark, a heavy rain falls and a bolt of lightning crackles through the air. But instead of striking down toward the ground, or zipping sideways between clouds, this lightning bolt does something unexpected: It blasts straight upward from the top of the cloud, shooting 50 miles into the sky, grazing the lower edge of space.

In a study published Aug. 3 in the journal Science Advances , researchers analyzed a gigantic jet that shot out of a cloud over Oklahoma in 2018.

Scientists analyzing the footage found that, as luck would have it, the jet occurred very near the center of a large lightning mapping array — a network of ground-based radio antennas used to map the locations and times of lightning strikes. The jet was also within range of several weather radar systems, as well as a weather-watching satellite network.

The strongest electric current, meanwhile, flowed considerably behind the streamers, in a section called the leader. The data also showed that while the streamers were relatively cool, with a temperature of roughly 400 degrees Fahrenheit , the leader was scorching hot, with a temperature of more than 8,000 degrees F . This discrepancy is true of all lightning strikes, not just gigantic jets, the researchers wrote.

 

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