TGiF: NASA Discovers Thunderstorm Antimatter Rays
NASA released a really interesting article and video today about their discovery that thunderstorms produce "antimatter beams." They found this out when their FERMI spacecraft (which was built to measure Gamma Rays in space) got hit with one, spiraling outwards from the Earth's magnetic field. NASA says: "The antimatter particles were formed in a terrestrial gamma-ray flash (TGF), a brief burst produced inside thunderstorms and shown to be associated with lightning." (For more information on how gamma rays form in space, read our Astronomy Blog).
Although it may sound like a term out of Star Trek (and it is), according to The Antimatter FAQ, we humans have been producing antimatter in the lab (and using it in the medical field -- PET scans -- for more than 10 years). So, it's not like we're opening a whole new wing of science here. As you can see below, the phenomenon looks like a pink toilet brush.
What does it mean to us humans? Unfortunately, NASA did not address that in the release. Hopefully it will help us understand thunderstorms better, so that we can forecast them better and save more lives and property. I found it interesting that Sprites and Elves, other high-atmosphere phenomena caused by lightning, were not mentioned, and I'm not the only one asking that question.
Outside of meteorology, since we've found the first natural source for antimatter, it may help answer a lot of questions that we have about it. For example: Could it be used to store energy, create fuel or destroy radioactive waste? Are extraterrestrials made of antimatter? (Short answer, maybe, but they say we are!). In other words, TGWeFound TGF's. And TGIF, cause tomorrow's the end of the week.
