So, apparently it’s not enough that thunderstorms wield massive destructive power in the form of lightning. Oh, and also freaking gamma rays. No, they’ve got to be pumping out antimatter too.
How’d we find this out? Because the Fermi space telescope got blasted by one. Back in 2009, the Fermi set off its own detectors because a beam of positrons (remember, the anti-matter equivalent of electrons) traveled along Earth’s magnetic lines, annihilated the electrons on the Fermi, and created a flash of gamma rays, along with bombarding some jerk scientist, his girlfriend, her brother, and a pilot, thus granting them the incredible powers of…cancer.
Seriously, thunderstorms are scary. Don’t mess with them.
[ via the positrons at Discovery ]