Researchers have known for several decades that thunderstorms can act as miniature particle accelerators that produce antimatter, gamma rays and other nuclear phenomena. But they did not know how common the phenomenon was. In observations taken by a retrofitted U2 spy plane, they've discovered essentially all large thunderstorms produce gamma rays in many dynamic, unexpected and unknown ways.

Researchers have known for several decades that thunderstorms can act as miniature particle accelerators that produce antimatter, gamma rays and other nuclear phenomena. But they did not know how common the phenomenon was. In observations taken by a retrofitted U2 spy plane, they’ve discovered essentially all large thunderstorms produce gamma rays in many dynamic, unexpected and unknown ways.

  • perestroika@slrpnk.netMEnglish
    2·
    1 day ago

    Thanks for sharing. :)

    I wonder if one could “catch” any gamma photons from a thunderstorm on ground level, with a scintillator and silicon photomultiplier, or is the sensitivity of small DIY devices far too low?

    It’s interesting to note that they found new internal dynamics in the process that they can’t explain for now.

    One type is incredibly short, less than a thousandth of a second, while the other is a sequence of about 10 individual bursts that repeat over the course of about a tenth of a second.

    “Those two new forms of gamma radiation are what I find most interesting,” Cummer said. "They don’t seem to be associated with developing lightning flashes. They emerge spontaneously somehow.