Green lightning spotted on Jupiter's north pole
New images captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft are revealing details about storms on Jupiter. The photo, captured on December 30th, 2020, shows a flash of green lightning within a storm on gas giant.
SPACE (KXAN) — New images captured by NASA's Juno spacecraft are revealing details about storms on Jupiter. The photo, captured on Dec. 30, 2020, shows a flash of green lightning within a storm on the gas giant.
According to NASA, lightning on the largest planet in our solar system occurs in clouds "containing an ammonia-water solution." Ammonia, when burned in oxygen, has a "pale yellowish-green flame," likely giving the bolt of lightning its color.
NASA said in a press release that lightning occurs more commonly near the poles on Jupiter, as opposed to on Earth where lightning is more common near the equator.
The photo was captured on the Juno spacecraft's 31st flyby of the planet. As many pictures of space are taken using special cameras, they must be processed before we can properly see them. Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed this new photo.
Lightning across the solar system
The first images of lightning on Jupiter were detected by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979. Those lightning strikes were detected by scanning radio waves.
Attempts to find lightning on other planets have not been successful. Scans of Venus show no signs of lightning similar to the type found on Earth. That planet's atmosphere is hot and dry, made mostly of carbon dioxide.
Scans of dust storms on Mars have shown no radio signals showing lighting, however bright flashes have been witnessed in the storms. Craters, possibly as a result of lightning strikes, have also appeared on Mars' surface.
Observing the gas giant
The Juno spacecraft launched in 2011 on a five-year mission to Jupiter. The craft was designed, according to NASA, to discover the origins of the gas giant. The craft has been feeding data back from the planet since its arrival in 2016.
Juno has gathered 375 gigabytes of data on Jupiter. That data has been processed by citizen scientists. The camera on craft is "dedicated to citizen outreach." It is just one of several citizen science programs NASA utilizes for research.
The spacecraft has not only gathered data on Jupiter, but its moons. It has performed flybys of both Europa and Io.
Juno is expected to operate until September 2025.