Art Inspired by Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes

Posted by Dave Thompson (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center)

Fermi's friends in the Advanced 2D Animation class at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) have been inspired by Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes (TGFs) to produce some artistic views of these thunderstorm-related phenomena.

Flash

Created by: Geo Barnett

We all see and hear thunderstorms, but when Geo Barnett made this video he captured the unseen happenings in the clouds that produce the upward-moving TGFs.

Link to original video

Terrestrial Gamma-ray Flashes

Created by: Jacob Breck, Isaac Livengood, Cosmo Pszeniczny, Melissa McIndoe, Milo Gould, and Ashley Cornell

Imagine the various particles that are involved in the creation of a TGF as dogs. The result is this video which provides a novel approach to the physical processes that create gamma rays in thunderstorms. Here, electrons are blue, positively charged ions are orange, atoms are green, and positrons are pink.

Link to original video