Published: June 30,2016
Stunning new images from the Hubble Space Telescope are giving us a jaw-dropping look at auroras on the planet Jupiter, just days before NASA's Juno spacecraft reaches the planet's orbit for a year-long mission.
The massive auroras appear to be at least twice the size of the planet's famous Great Red Spot, a gigantic swirling storm that is itself twice as wide as the Earth.
The auroras were spotted using the Hubble's ultraviolet capabilities, said NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, which released the images on Thursday through their Instagram account.
(NASA)
“These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have ever seen,” Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester, lead astronomer on the aurora study, said in a Hubble press release. “It almost seems as if Jupiter is throwing a firework party for the imminent arrival of Juno,” Nichols said.
Jupiter’s auroras were first discovered by the Voyager 1 spacecraft in 1979. A thin ring of light on Jupiter's nightside looked like a stretched-out version of our own auroras on Earth. Only later was it discovered that the auroras were best visible in the ultraviolet, the release says.
(MORE: Stunning New Maps of Jupiter Reveal Planet’s Turbulent Weather in Infrared)
Aurora's on Jupiter are created the same way they are on Earth, when high energy particles enter a planet’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas. But unlike auroras on Earth, those on Jupiter, which are hundreds of times more energetic, never cease.
Hubble's observations of the auroras are perfectly timed to collaborate with the Juno Space probe, which will spend nearly a year circling Jupiter's poles and peering through clouds to scrutinize the planet's southern and northern lights. It's the "perfect collaboration between a telescope and a space probe," the Hubble release says.
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