Lightning Captured by X-Ray Camera—A First

[The Straight Story]

Lightning Captured by X-Ray Camera—A First

The first x-ray images of a lightning strike have been captured by a, well, lightning-fast camera, scientists say. The pictures suggest a lightning bolt carries all its x-ray radiation in its tip. (Get lightning facts.)

During recent thunderstorms in Camp Blanding, Florida, the camera's electronic shutter "froze" a lightning bolt—artificially triggered by rockets and wires—as it sped toward the ground at one-sixth the speed of light.

"Something moving this fast would go from the Earth to the moon in less than ten seconds," said Joseph Dwyer, a lightning researcher at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.

Scientists have known for several years that lightning emits radiation, said Dwyer, who revealed the photos at an annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco earlier this month.

But until now scientists didn't have the technology to take x-ray images quickly enough to see where the radiation comes from, he said.



http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/101223-lightning-x-rays-camera-science-technology/

[SoCalDem]

1. Wow... that's cool... n/t

[The Straight Story]

2. It's not as cool as me, but it is pretty cool

;)

[Robb]

9. I dunno. That picture's so cool

...you could store a side of beef in it for a month. ;)

[skepticscott]

3. Uh, does this guy even know what he's talking about?

"Scientists have known for several years that lightning emits radiation"? Hello...people have always known this. If it didn't emit radiation, you couldn't freaking see it!

[roguevalley]

4. pretty.

[toddwv]

5. I'm a bit confused.

Is that an artist's rendering or a composite? The article said that the camera was huge and:

"Because lightning moves blindingly fast, the camera was required to take ten million images per second."

Due to memory constraints, the camera took very low res pics (30 pixels) pictures but that picture is much, much higher quality.

[intheflow]

6. The camera would have to be set to

"take ten million images per second" since lightening moves too fast for a human to capture it as it happens - hence the shot must be caught by chance. The greater the number of photos taken, the greater the chance of catching lightning in action.

They could have taken a 40' x 60' photo at 30 pixels but could raise the number of pixels when shrinking the overall image down to a size suitable for publication and online viewing. I do this all the time with my photos.

[Canuckistanian]

7. I'm confused, too

The lead picture must not represent the actual XRay image. At 30 pixels, it would look like blobs of light.

If they showed the actual XRay image superimposed on the hi-res color picture, it would make sense.

[ProdigalJunkMail]

8. please note the pic in the OP is NOT an x-ray image

it is merely a picture of a lightning strike in visible light. The x-rays were picked up by a detector rather than an actual 'camera' that only stored 30 pixels per 'image'.

not to say this isn't a very cool idea...but the pic is misleading.

sP