real brightness

when there's blue light in the pipes, "Ackerman said. "Since then I started looking for what caused it."

The lightning cloud creates a strong electric field, because there is a big difference between electrical charges in the cloud and on land, which we can sometimes feel as static.

This field can become more intensive with the presence of pointy objects, such as iron pipes or mast ships.

If this electric field becomes strong enough, then this field can break the air molecules into electrically charged particles. The gas becomes "plasma" and emits a shimmering glow.

The same plasma glow can be made in the laboratory using sharp or pointy objects to intensify the electric field.