Gigantic Jets
Taken by Steve Cullen on July 24, 2017 @
Orting, WA
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Camera Used: Canon Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
Exposure Time: 30/1
Aperture: f/1.8
ISO: 1600
Date Taken: 2017:07:30 00:52:22
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Details:
Being a professional photographer (focusing on astrophotography) and dedicated citizen scientist, I frequently check the Gemini Observatory, W. M. Keck Observatory, and Canada France Hawaii Telescope Corporation CloudCams on the Maunakea summit for interesting things happening in the sky. I have "discovered" 24 of these Gigantic Jet events through the years as a result. When I heard from my photography friends on the Big Island (Tom Kualii) that the remnants of Fernanda were firing up thunderstorms I immediately went online and poured through the CloudCam archives for that evening. When I first saw the Gigantic Jets on the Gemini CloudCam in realtime, I thought they were lens flares from bright lightning flashes. It wasn't until I went through the video frame-by-frame that my jaw dropped to the floor as I could clearly tell that they were these spectacular Gigantic Jets. With the help of some engineer friends at Gemini, Keck, and on the mainland (Tom Polakis, Tom Carlos, and Andrew Cooper) we have since calculated that they reached approximately 45-50 miles above Earth's surface!
The attached is a mosaic of three Gigantic Jets images captured by the Gemini Observatory CloudCam that evening and processed by me from the original files (thanks to the Gemini Observatory team for allowing me access to the data).
Photographer's website:
http://www.stevecullenphotography.com
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