09/08/2008 In Nature, Science & Technology by argikon

The following lightning strike captured by storm chaser Tim Samaras is one of the first ever video captures slow enough (100,000 frames/second) to show lightning as it actually travels toward the ground and back toward the sky. Using an Ultra-High Speed camera that he heavily customized, Samaras was able to confirm that the lightning we see with the naked eye is actually the return stroke back toward the sky, not the superfast downward stroke. This video provides visible proof of this theory.