Thunderstorms - Terrestrial Particle Accelerators Create Antimatter
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 - 11:30
in Astronomy & Space
The Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope has detected beams of antimatter launched by thunderstorms, which act like enormous particle accelerators and can emit gamma-ray flashes called TGFs - and also high-energy electrons and positrons. TGFs are produced inside thunderstorms and shown to be associated with lightning. It is estimated that about 500 such flashes occur daily worldwide, but most go undetected. Scientists now think that most TGFs produce particle beams and antimatter. read more