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.

                              2020 September 27

                           Lightning over Colorado
                    Image Credit & Copyright: Joe Randall

   Explanation: Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? Join the
   crowd. Oddly, details about how lightning is produced remains a topic
   of research. What is known is that updrafts carry light ice crystals
   into collisions with larger and softer ice balls, causing the smaller
   crystals to become positively charged. After enough charge becomes
   separated, the rapid electrical discharge that is lightning occurs.
   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.

         Follow APOD in English on: Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter
                     Tomorrow's picture: stellar ribbons
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.


--- MBSE BBS v1.0.7.18 (GNU/Linux-x86_64)