From the website:

Gigantic jets are a powerful type of electrical discharge that extends from the top of a thunderstorm into the upper atmosphere. They are typically observed by chance — often spotted by airline passengers or captured unintentionally by ground-based cameras aimed at other phenomena. Gigantic jets appear when the turbulent conditions at towering thunderstorm tops allow for lightning to escape the thunderstorm, propagating upwards toward space. They create an electrical bridge between the tops of the clouds (~20 km) and the upper atmosphere (~100 km), depositing a significant amount of electrical charge.

sorry forgot to link, thanks!

So.. I click on the thumbnail and it shows me a smaller image. cool.

I wish every magical-thinking person would join the reality-based community.

I wish the magical-thinking community were not treated like adults and given the ability to vote. That's just carelessness with our Democracy.

Learning about science is like learning about magic.

if it's not because of Republican Jesus I don't need to know.

They're called Sprites!

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprite_(lightning)

Even the NASA article has the same res.

https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/heliophysics/a-gigantic-jet-caught-on-camera-a-spritacular-moment-for-nasa-astronaut-nicole-ayers/

You cannot poo in zero gravity. They have to dig around up there with their hands to manually remove excrement from their rectum

"New rift portal has opened"

Its Pugsley Addams if its anything at all.

So....they don't know what it is either?

It's a Walmart. Specifically, the Tire and Lube Express.

It's the lance of Longinus!

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gigantic_jet_photographed_by_Nichole_Ayers_on_the_International_Space_Station,_some_edits.jpg

The phenomenon took place at roughly 29°N 101.5°W over Coahuila, Mexico.

I'm like 99% sure that were looking at the outside of Earth in the photo, but i can't be entirely sure.

I think there's too many clouds? Anyways if I were to guess, I'd say houston (because of all of the problems in my life rn).

If I'm thinking of the same thing, I believe these come from within the center of hurricanes.

I doubt it, lightning strikes are just static discharges

@OhVenus_Baby @drmoose depends if you're doing 88 at the time

Not a physicist, but here is my understanding.

It shouldn't. We can't store that much energy with current technology. Energy can't be created or destroyed, so we would be using it for some other purpose and converting it to something else. Lightning strikes help in the nitrogen cycle, but that happens in the air. I doubt this would be impacted by us capturing the energy.

If we are able to store that much energy, we would be advanced enough to keep our planet safe, hopefully. It will bring different problems. Somewhat related to this, you should read about Kardashev scale and Dyson spheare.

Putting up wind farms should have more impact since it can change wind patterns, but the new wind turbines might be a lot better.

Not really but I found this bright star near us and all we have to do is lay out some panels to capture its energy.

I don't think we could ever take so much energy that we'd suck the planet dry of it. I think a lot of the energy comes from solar energy through to our atmosphere or sumthing and there's a lot of solar energy probably.

Im really dumb tho so probably dont read this post unless its too late because this disclaimer is the second paragraph.