Lightning over Colorado

Have you ever watched a lightning storm in awe? Join the crowd. Oddly, nobody knows exactly how lightning is produced. What is known is that charges slowly separate in some clouds causing rapid electrical discharges ( lightning ), but how electrical charges get separated in clouds remains a topic of much research. Lightning usually takes a jagged course, rapidly heating a thin column of air to about three times the surface temperature of the Sun . The resulting shock wave starts supersonically and decays into the loud sound known as thunder . Lightning bolts are common in clouds during rainstorms, and on average 44 lightning bolts occur on the Earth every second. Pictured , over 60 images were stacked to capture the flow of lightning-producing storm clouds in July over Colorado Springs , Colorado , USA . Follow APOD on: Facebook , Google Plus , Instagram , or Twitter