Oh, when will scientists learn? First it was laser pointers, then sharks with lasers. Now? Lightning storms with lasers.
[Click to enteslanate.] What could possibly go wrong? Dun dun DUNNNNNNNN. OK, fine. In reality, this picture actually shows a storm approaching an observatory testing out a new type of laser guide star system; lasers can be used as a way of increasing the resolution of telescopes. The storm was still a ways off, but from the photographer's view the laser was superposed over it, and happened to catch a pretty dramatic lightning bolt in the picture. I was interested to read that the laser had a power of about 20 Watts. A decent green laser pointer has a power of roughly 1/5^th of a Watt, so this one is 100 times as powerful. I've used a 1 Watt hand-held laser before, and it literally scared me; it was so bright ...
