Antimatter and lightning

[mivey]

And you thought lightning was just for creating more work for us. Fermi has detected antimatter being produced by lightning storms. There is a neat summary and video here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderstorms.html

We talk of electrons traveling slowly in our world. In this case, streams of electrons and antimatter (positrons) are being shot out into space at near light speed. The positrons collided with Fermi and produced gamma rays when the particles were annihilated by combining with electrons on Fermi. Now I guess we will have to deliver a load of electrons to make the telescope whole again.

It makes you wonder if the lightning down here is creating antimatter particles that bombard our equipment in some cases. Anyone seen any evidence of gamma radiation during a lightning damage repair?

That is just cool stuff, considering that NASA only costs us pennies per day per person.

 

[steve66]

yes, very cool. I've see a couple of TV shows that talk about sprites and all the other strange things that can shoot up into space from a thunderstorm.

 

[Jraef]

Very cool.

Now if only we can figure a way to reconfigure our Phasers to harness that anti-matter and use it to restore the dilithium crystals, we can get off this idiotic planet...

 

[steve66]

Very cool.

Now if only we can figure a way to reconfigure our Phasers to harness that anti-matter and use it to restore the dilithium crystals, we can get off this idiotic planet...

Yes, but then the idiot's would want to ride along too

 

[mivey]

Very cool.

Now if only we can figure a way to reconfigure our Phasers to harness that anti-matter and use it to restore the dilithium crystals, we can get off this idiotic planet...

Dilithium crystals? We are using ZPMs 'round here.

 

[al hildenbrand]

There is a neat summary and video here:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/fermi-thunderstorms.html

Thanks for that. I loved this:

"These signals are the first direct evidence that thunderstorms make antimatter particle beams," said Michael Briggs, a member of Fermi's Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) team at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH).