What causes lightning? The answer keeps getting more interesting

(quantamagazine.org)

Comments

nomilk 5 hours ago
That 7 second video of a small rocket shot into a cloud to induce a lightning strike (about half way down the article) is incredible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BJIiX9_c_M

Any ideas why the lightning strike appears mostly green (and momentarily purple and orange)?

freehorse 3 hours ago
Tl;dr lightings may be caused by electrons/positrons from outer space hitting a cloud and initiating an "avalanche" of electrons.
metalman 4 hours ago
just in case you missed it, all matter carrys a charge, and all space(and matter) has energy radiating through it, making the universe an energy gradient.

sometimes you can see it happening.

fguerraz 3 hours ago
So, nothing new?

The cosmic ray hypothesis has been dominant for a few years now.

This magazine…

joshikarthikey 1 hour ago
Soooo you are telling me that we still haven't fully understood something as fundamental as lightning and it's still an active area of research...