Science
Related: About this forumGamma-ray bursts 'common in storms' (BBC)
By Rebecca Morelle
Science Correspondent, BBC News, San Francisco
Scientists have shed light on a mysterious phenomenon that occurs in thunderstorms.
They have discovered that gamma-ray bursts - the most powerful explosions of energy in the Universe - are far more common on Earth than was thought.
Data from Nasa's Fermi satellite shows that all storms produce the blasts and an estimated 1,100 occur each day.
The findings were presented at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting.
Until recently, it was thought that gamma-ray bursts were only found in deep space.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30491840
mopinko
(70,337 posts)NaturalHigh
(12,778 posts)I've never even heard that this was a possibility.
Warpy
(111,437 posts)considering what an extremely high energy phenomenon lightning is. Fortunately the amounts are small enough that we didn't start lobbing H bombs in the 60s and our bods seem designed to cope with tiny amounts of ionizing radiation.
frogmarch
(12,161 posts)Here are some examples of phenomena produced by gamma ray bursts:
Sprites:
Elves, sprites and jets:
Thanks for your post and the link!