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                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2025 September 9
   An image of Earth from space shows an unusual multi-colored jet in the
      middle of the frame. Please see the explanation for more detailed
                                information.

                  Up from the Earth: Gigantic Jet Lightning
               Image Credit: NASA, Expedition 73, Nicole Ayers

   Explanation: What's that rising up from the Earth? When circling the
   Earth on the International Space Station early in July, astronaut
   Nicole Ayers saw an unusual type of lightning rising up from the Earth:
   a gigantic jet. The powerful jet appears near the center of the
   featured image in red, white, and blue. Giant jet lightning has only
   been known about for the past 25 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 remain active topics of research.

                     Tomorrow's picture: big sky lizard
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.
                  NASA Web Privacy, Accessibility, Notices;
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
                           NASA Science Activation
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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