Lightning Shooting Into Space From Earth Is Real, but Image Is a Simulation
The Claim
The photo shows upward (or reverse) lightning, captured from the International Space Station in 2019.
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Emerging story
In the last few months, accounts and pages on Facebook have been sharing a photo that claims to show the International Space Station's lightning shooting upwards for the first time in 2019.
Photo Description: The screenshot shows a Facebook post sharing the alleged photo and claim.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulated claim and found it misleading. The photo is not real; it is edited and made up of multiple shots taken from a 21-second video published by the European Space Agency in January 2020. The image depicts an artist's impression of a blue jet as seen from the International Space Station. Blue jets are a type of lightning that travels from the tops of thunder clouds to the stratosphere.
Researchers on the International Space Station observed "five intense flashes of blue light" from a thunderstorm cloud over the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 23, 2019, according to NASA. Each of these flashes lasted approximately "10 to 20 milliseconds."
Translated by: Ahmed N. A. Almassri
