Lightning in Super Slow Motion

Lightning is much scarier when you slow it down. Florida Institute of Technology researchers filmed strikes during a storm this month to test a new slow-motion camera. Captured at 7,000 frames per second (compared with 24 frames per second for your average movie), the stunning footage shows creeping tentacles of lightning descend toward Earth before a full-on, blinding flash. In the future, the camera will be used to study upper-atmosphere electricity during storms, but we’ll take more shots like these any time.