Lighting up the sky: The incredible shots of lightning on Earth taken from SPACE
- Pictures were taken from the International Space Station
- Across the atmosphere of Earth, lightning flashes about 50 times per second
- Researchers using instruments aboard the space station to try and find out more about lightning


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They are an incredible view of lightning as you've never seen it before - from space. Taken by astronauts aboard the International space station as it orbited the Earth, they reveal lightning strikes lighting up the sky. Researchers are now using instruments aboard the space station to try and find out more about lightning and its effects.

Using a new instrument on the International Space Station (ISS), scientists are trying to observe and dissect lightning bolts every day.
Installed on the ISS in August 2013, the Firestation instrument includes photometers to measure lightning flashes, radio antennas to measure the static (a proxy for the strength of the electrical discharge), and a gamma-ray electron detector.

Firestation is observing about 50 lightning strokes per day and looking for brief bursts of gamma rays that are emitted by some of them.
Gamma radiation is usually associated with exploding stars or nuclear fusion, but scientists have found evidence that terrestrial gamma-ray flashes (TGFs) may occur in the atmosphere as often as 500 times a day.

Another picture:


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If anything ever deserved to be called 'Awesome,' it's this.