A video of an "extremely rare" view of a gigantic jet across a night sky has gone viral on Instagram.
The spectacular scene was captured from the cockpit by pilot Alexander Torres, who shared a video of the rare sighting on his Instagram account (@airbus.fr). The clip has had 10 million views since it was posted on February 22.
A caption shared with the post reads: "Encountered a cosmic marvel! Captured the surreal beauty of a gigantic jet phenomenon during my night flight, a sight that feels straight out of a sci-fi movie! Did you know about this fascinating 'natural' phenomenon?"
The footage shows a view from the flightdeck showing flashes of lightning across a dark night sky. A striking pink and purplish blue beam shooting upwards from the clouds is seen in the distance.
What Is a Gigantic Jet?
Gigantic jets are an "extremely rare but tremendously powerful" type of lightning discharge occurring between some thunderstorms and the Earth's ionosphere—where the Earth's atmosphere meets space—high above them, according to NASA.
They are very different from regular cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground lightning. The bottoms of gigantic jets appear similar to another type of lightning known as blue jets, which are blue flashes that shoot upwards from the tops of thunderstorms toward the edge of space. A jet can reach the stratopause, which is 50 kilometers above the Earth's surface, in less than a second, NASA says.
The tops of gigantic jets appear similar to upper-atmosphere red sprites, which are "one of the least-understood electrical phenomena in Earth's upper atmosphere."
Occurring high above thunderstorms at around 80 kilometers altitude, sprites appear moments after a lightning strike in the form of "a sudden reddish flash that can take a range of shapes, often combining diffuse plumes and bright, spiny tendrils."
NASA says: "Although the mechanism and trigger that causes gigantic jets is a topic of research, it is clear that the jets reduce charge imbalance between different parts of Earth's atmosphere. A good way to look for gigantic jets is to watch a powerful but distant thunderstorm from a clear location."
'Most Extraordinary'
Instagram users were blown away by the rare sighting in the latest viral clip. One, rolanddelhomme, said it was "one of the most extraordinary captures I've ever, ever seen. Bravo!"
User ny_uap_discussion agreed, saying, "Wow this has to be one of the most beautiful captures ever."
"Incredible!" wrote nisheink, while misiu_universe said, "Whoa! That's awesome. I knew lightning can shoot straight up from the clouds but this video shows it the best."
"What people don't realize because it happened so fast is that if you manage to capture this footage in slow motion you'll see that the sprite and/or blue jets actually bounces off of the atmosphere as well," said otwtthetop.
User paulmsmithphotography said, "...Wild! Really interesting white channel activity at the cloud top."
Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via Instagram. This video has not been independently verified.
Stock images of a night view of from a cockpit and lightning shooting above of clouds. A video of a rare view of a gigantic jet captured from the cockpit on a night flight has...Stock images of a night view of from a cockpit and lightning shooting above of clouds. A video of a rare view of a gigantic jet captured from the cockpit on a night flight has gone viral on Instagram. iStock / Getty Images PlusDo you have a travel-related video or story to share? Let us know via life@newsweek.com and your story could be featured on Newsweek.
