Lightning on Jupiter tagged posts

Ammonia Sparks unexpected, exotic Lightning on Jupiter

illustration used data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms
This illustration used data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms on Jupiter. Juno’s sensitive Stellar Reference Unit camera detected unusual lightning flashes on the planet’s dark side during the spacecraft’s close flybys of the planet.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft – orbiting and closely observing the planet Jupiter – has unexpectedly discovered lightning in the planet’s upper atmosphere, according to a multi-institutional study led by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which includes two Cornell University researchers.

Jupiter’s gaseous atmosphere seems placid from a distance, but up close the clouds roil in a turbulent, chemically dynamic realm...

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