国际太空站拍到的巨大喷流

2024年8月13日

Giant Jet from the International Space Station
Image Credit: NASA, Expedition 71 Crew, JSC, ESRS, Matthew Dominick; Processing: Simeon Schmauß

Explanation: What’s that on the horizon? When circling the Earth on the International Space Station early last month, astronaut Matthew Dominick saw an unusual type of lightning just beyond the Earth’s edge: a gigantic jet. The powerful jet appears on the left of the featured image in red and blue. Giant jet lightning has only been known about for the past 23 years. The atmospheric jets are associated with thunderstorms and extend upwards towards Earth’s ionosphere. The lower part of the frame shows the Earth at night, with Earth’s thin atmosphere tinted green from airglow. City lights are visible, sometimes resolved, but usually creating diffuse white glows in intervening clouds. The top of the frame reveals distant stars in the dark night sky. The nature of gigantic jets and their possible association with other types of Transient Luminous Events (TLEs) such as blue jets and red sprites remains an active topic of research.

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Tomorrow’s picture: purple rain

国际空间站拍到的巨大喷流
影像提供: NASA, Expedition 71 Crew, JSC, ESRS, Matthew Dominick; 影像处理: Simeon Schmauß

说明: 地平线上有什么？上个月初，宇航员马修·多米尼克在国际空间站上绕行地球时，看到地球的边缘出现了一种不寻常的高空闪电：巨大喷流。这例拥有红与蓝身影的巨大喷流，位于这幅主题影像的左侧。这种源自雷暴系统、顶端止于地球电离层的强烈巨大喷流，约在过去的23年间方为人所知。影像视野底部为夜晚的地球，其中，地球纤薄的大气因气辉而呈绿色。此外，还可见到都市灯火，以及因传统闪电在云内闪烁而散发的白色辉光。这幅影像顶部则记录了散布在漆黑夜空中的遥远恒星。巨大喷流的本质及它与其他短暂发光事件（TLEs；诸如蓝色喷流和红色精灵）之间的可能关联，至今仍然是活跃的研究课题。

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明日的图片: purple rain