Lightning strikes across Earth could make ultrahot "killer electrons" rain down around our planet, according to new research from scientists at the University of Colorado Boulder. Due to this result, the team suggests that space weather and Earth can unite to play "cosmic pinball."
The discovery was made almost by chance while the team was studying satellite data that showed high-energy and high-speed "hot" electrons could be dislodged from the inner radiation belt — a region of charged particles wrapped around our planet that's held in place by Earth's protective magnetic bubble, known as the magnetosphere.
