Spectacular photo taken from ISS shows 'gigantic jet' of upward-shooting lightning towering 50 miles over New Orleans

image via Space.com

March 7, 2025, 5:00 PM

• •A newly unveiled photo captured by an astronaut on the International Space Station (ISS) provides a rare glimpse at an upward-shooting "gigantic jet" of lightning likely extending more than 50 miles (80 kilometers) above the U.S. coast.
• •The striking image was taken by an unnamed ISS crewmember on Nov. 19, 2024, but it was not initially shared by NASA or any other space organization.
• •Gigantic jets are massive lightning bolts that shoot upward from thunderstorms when the charged layers of the clouds get temporarily inverted. They mainly give off a blue light due to the high levels of nitrogen in the upper atmosphere and usually last less than a second.

A newly unveiled astronaut photo shows a "gigantic jet" shooting upward from a thunderstorm above Louisiana in November 2024. The striking image was taken by an unnamed ISS crewmember on Nov. 19, 2024, but it was not initially shared by NASA or any other space organization. However, photographer Frankie Lucena, who specializes in capturing giant lightning sprites, stumbled across photos of the event on the Gateway to Astronaut photography of Earth website and shared them with Spaceweather.com, which reshared the shots Feb. 26.

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