blue jet

American  

noun

1. a faint discharge of blue light from the top of a thunderstorm cloud that propagates upward: extends approximately from the bottom to the top of the stratosphere and is not detectable from the ground.

---

blue jet Scientific  

1. A conical discharge of blue light that starts from the top of active thunderstorm clouds and proceeds upward. Blue jets can last up to several hundred milliseconds and are believed to connect the top of a thundercloud with the ionosphere.

---

Etymology

Origin of blue jet

1990–95

Example Sentences

One of Plait’s most fascinating recent entries tackles “blue jets” and “red sprites.”

From Washington Post

Hubble spots Hen 2-437, a dying star in the Milky Way that has ejected its outer layers, seen here in false color as two blue jets.

From National Geographic

Blue jets, however, last about 1,000 times longer than TGFs, so it is not clear what part of the blue jet, if any, might be responsible.

From Scientific American

Alas, the momentarily unidentified flying object was a red, white and blue jet half filled with 77 passengers and a crew of 7, and it was almost perfectly aligned with the Connie.

From New York Times

The small blue jets of the ring flickered and ran together and soared as her sleeve caught them.

From Project Gutenberg