SATELLITES and astronauts orbiting the Earth have little to fear from the wind and rain of a storm far below – but the lightning might be a different matter.
Bolts of lightning are already known to produce X-rays and gamma rays. Now Joseph Dwyer of the Florida Institute of Technology and colleagues have discovered that lightning in the lower atmosphere also flings a shower of high-energy electrons towards space (Geophysical Research Letters, ). According to the team’s satellite measurements, each electron is 100 times more energetic than the photons of X-rays used for medical imaging. This means they would easily penetrate the radiation shielding fitted…
