NASA’s Juno mission data lightning on Jupiter

247 – NASA’s Juno mission was capable of spot a swirl close to Jupiter’s north pole, highlighting a flash of lightning. On Earth, lightning originates from water clouds and most frequently happens close to the equator. Nonetheless, on Jupiter, lightning can be thought to happen in clouds containing an answer of ammonia and water, and is extra frequent close to the poles.

Within the coming months, Juno’s orbits will deliver it nearer to Jupiter extra often. This proximity, together with the spacecraft’s passage over the gasoline big’s night time aspect, will create extra alternatives for Juno’s science devices to seize lightning in motion.

The scene captured by Juno occurred throughout the probe’s near-Jupiter 31 flight, performed on December 30, 2020. In 2022, citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the picture from uncooked information coming from the spacecraft’s JunoCam instrument.

When the unique picture was taken, Juno was about 32,000 kilometers above Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of about 78 levels because it approached the planet.

With info from NASA.

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