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This image displays a swirl near Jupiter’s north pole and shows the lightning on Jupiter.
Where does the Lightning on Jupiter Come From?
Lightning originates from water-based clouds on Earth and is predominantly observed near the equator. On Jupiter, however, it’s likely that lightning is generated from a mixture of ammonia and water clouds and is typically seen near the poles.
The Nearness of Jupiter’s Orbital Pole to the Planet:
Juno’s orbital path will bring it nearer to Jupiter as it traverses the giant planet’s dark side in the forthcoming months. This proximity will allow Juno’s scientific apparatus to capture lightning in action.
This snapshot was taken on the 30th of December, 2020, when Juno was making its 31st cosy rendezvous with Jupiter.
Converting the Raw Data of Lightning on Jupiter by JunoCam:
In 2022, a citizen scientist named Kevin M. Gill converted the raw data from JunoCam, the spacecraft’s imaging device, into this visual.
When the original snapshot was captured, Juno was nearly 19,900 miles (around 32,000 kilometres) above the cloud tops of Jupiter, closing in on the giant planet around the 78-degree latitude mark.
Does Jupiter have lightning?
Despite Jupiter’s status as a gas giant with a diameter approximately 11 times that of Earth, its lightning displays bear a striking resemblance to those found on our planet, despite Earth being the fifth largest planet in our solar system.
How powerful is lightning on Jupiter?
Efforts were made to assess the strength of lightning by utilizing optical measurements, leading to the conclusion that the intensity of lightning could potentially rival the most powerful lightning phenomena observed on Earth.
What is the Color light on Jupiter?
This illustration portrays a sprite lightning phenomenon observed on Jupiter. Due to Jupiter’s atmosphere being predominantly composed of hydrogen, sprites on the planet would likely exhibit a blue hue. In contrast, Earth’s upper atmosphere, which contains nitrogen, causes sprites to appear reddish.
