9. Satellite-Based X-ray and Gamma-ray Detectors
By pointing out its surprising high-energy components, satellite-based X-ray and gamma-ray detectors have transformed our knowledge of blue lightning. Originally intended for astrophysical investigations, these advanced sensors have serendipitally shown that blue lightning episodes can generate brief bursts of X-rays and even gamma-rays, a phenomena known as Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs).
Modern satellites with similar detectors, notably NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, track Earth constantly for these high-energy emissions. The detectors capture arriving X-rays and gamma-rays using scintillation crystals or solid-state electronics, therefore transforming them into electrical signals whose energy and arrival time can be calculated.
TGFs linked with blue lightning are identified from other sources of high-energy radiation in the near-Earth environment using advanced data processing algorithms. Through the correlation of these detections with other lightning data, scientists can obtain understanding of the extraordinary physical processes underlie blue lightning episodes, including electron acceleration to relativistic speeds and antimatter generation in the Earth’s atmosphere.