Lightning Above the Mountaintop

A bolt of lightning illuminates clouds hanging above Maunaloa in Hawai‘i, the volcano opposite Maunakea which is home of Gemini North, one half of the International Gemini Observatory, supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation and operated by NSF NOIRLab. While the site of superb observing conditions of the night sky for 80% of the year, the summit of Maunakea is occasionally disturbed by thunderstorms like the one shown here above Maunaloa. A smaller second bolt of lightning can also be seen shrouded in the clouds on the left side of this photograph. Gemini North and other telescopes near the summit of Maunakea are only temporarily affected by these rare thunderstorms, and structures are generally built into the observatory buildings to mitigate lightning strikes on the telescopes themselves.

You can view earlier Images of the Week featuring the lightning phenomena called a red sprite near Maunakea here and here.