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Gone in a flash: Stunning photo taken by NASA captures rare moment when Jupiter is struck by neon GREEN lightning bolt
NASA has shared a stunning image of a neon green flash radiating through Jupiter’s thick, swirling clouds.
The light comes from crackling lightning near the gas giant’s north pole, which astronomers said is similar to the natural phenomenon on Earth.
On our planet, lightning emanates from water clouds and is common near the equator, while lightning on Jupiter probably also occurs in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution and is seen mainly near the poles.
The Juno spacecraft captured the epic image during its 31st close flyby when it was about 31,900 miles above Jupiter’s cloud tops.
NASA shared a stunning photo of Jupiter, showing a bright green dot on the gas giant’s north pole
The image was captured in December 2020, but was released Thursday after a citizen scientist processed the data in the JunoCam instrument aboard the 2022 spacecraft.
The natural phenomenon on the gas giant is called Jovian lightning and was first observed by the Voyager 1 spacecraft when it flew past Jupiter in March 1979.
And it wasn’t until Juno visited the planet that scientists discovered that Jovian lightning is similar to what happens on Earth.
Shannon Brown of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, a Juno scientist and lead author of the paper, said in a 2018 statement, “It doesn’t matter what planet you’re on, lightning bolts act like radio transmitters — they emit radio waves.” . when they flash through a sky.
“But until Juno, all lightning signals recorded by spacecraft [Voyagers 1 and 2, Galileo, Cassini] were limited to visual detections or from the kilohertz range of the radio spectrum, despite a search for signals in the megahertz range.
The Juno spacecraft captured the epic image during its 31st close flyby when it was about 31,900 miles above Jupiter’s cloud tops (artist’s impression)
Juno also captured electric blue “sprites” and “elves” dancing in Jupiter’s atmosphere
“Many theories were put forward to explain it, but no theory could ever get the answer.”
Juno has been exploring Jupiter since 2016 and has captured new images of the mysterious planet that scientists hope will help them better understand the turbulent world.
Lightning on the distant planet occurs only in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution, while on Earth, lighting occurs in water clouds.
The poles, lacking this upper-level heat and thus no atmospheric stability, allow warm gases to rise from Jupiter’s interior, causing convection and creating the ingredients for lightning.
Juno also captured electric blue “sprites” and “elves” dancing in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Such transient luminous events occur on Earth during a thunderstorm, but these are the first to be observed in another world.
The bright, unpredictable flashes of light typically form on our planet about 60 miles above major thunderstorms, creating flares that last only milliseconds.
The flashes, which are considered sprites, resemble jellyfish with long tendrils streaming down to the ground, and elves appear as a flattened glowing disc that can stretch up to 200 miles across the sky.
Juno scientists spotted the cosmic displays in 2020, appearing 300 kilometers above the altitude where most of the gas giant’s lightning forms – the water cloud layer.
Researchers were also able to rule out that these were simply mega lightning bolts due to the high altitude where the majority of Jupiter’s lightning originates.