Scientists have started steering lightning with lasers – here’s how

The Conversation ^ | January 20, 2023

[BenLurkin]

This latest experiment was performed near a telecommunications tower on the Säntis mountain in Switzerland that is frequently struck by lightning - roughly 100 times a year, although the tower itself is protected by a lightning rod.

The results from the study found the lightning flowed almost in a straight line near the laser pulses, but the lightning strikes were more randomly distributed when the laser was off.

While this study is not the first attempt to direct lightning paths it is the first to show it can be done. The scientists have attributed this to the high power laser they used, and the high altitude. At high altitudes air is less dense. This makes it easier for current to pass through, meaning that future experiments at sea level would require a more powerful laser.

Many researchers think some lightning storms could be caused by cosmic rays (highly energetic particles from outside the solar system). These particles pass through the atmosphere and interact with air to create an ionised path through their direction of travel. This is a theory that has researchers split on whether it affects the number of total lightning strikes around the world.

The scientists used a powerful laser to try and create ionised paths in a similar way to the cosmic ray theory. Firing rapid (1,000 times a second) energetic pulses with a laser heats the air and ionises it, briefly becoming conductive. The lightning strike will have less resistance along this path and so will be more inclined to flow that way.

[Nateman]

...Many researchers think some lightning storms could be caused by cosmic rays

Since Cosmic rays are charged they get moved by magnetic fields . You can't simply follow them back in a straight line to their source making their origin a long time mystery. It is very likely that black holes are responsible. I find it amazing that whenever I see lightening or hear thunder that some Black Hole billions of light years away may have triggered it.