APOD: Lightning on Jupiter (2023 Jun 25)

[APOD Robot]

Lightning on Jupiter

Explanation: Does lightning occur only on Earth? No. Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected lightning on other planets, including Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and lightning is likely on Venus, Uranus, and Neptune. Lightning is a sudden rush of electrically charged particles from one location to another. On Earth, drafts of colliding ice and water droplets usually create lightning-generating charge separation, but what happens on Jupiter? Images and data from NASA's Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft bolster previous speculation that Jovian lightning is also created in clouds containing water and ice. In the featured Juno photograph, an optical flash was captured in a large cloud vortex near Jupiter's north pole. During the next few months, Juno will perform several close sweeps over Jupiter's night side, likely allowing the robotic probe to capture more data and images of Jovian lightning.

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[alex555]

In this image, you can even see the light from the lightning scattering through the cloud. Considering the distance at which Juno is, it is really impressive and it says a lot about the intensity of the lightning below.

Alex

[VictorBorun]

I wonder why the flash looks yellow-green (lime)

[Ann]

I wonder why the flash looks yellow-green (lime)

You and me both, Victor.

Ann

[Astronut]

Are there estimates of the water content in the Jovian atmosphere? Does it vary?

[guest again]

Green lightning, blue thunder?

[Chris Peterson]

I wonder why the flash looks yellow-green (lime)

Keep in mind that JunoCam doesn't take a "snapshot", but has its sensor readout synchronized with the spacecraft rotation. So it takes about a minute to collect a single image (there are four filters) as one axis is swept out. What that means is that transient events like lightning may not be caught in each band. We'd need to go back and look at the source data (either the truly raw data, with the image bands, or the output of the first pass processing which generates something more like a spatially accurate image) to see which channels actually recorded the flash.

[De58te]

Just a thought of why the lightning is green instead of electrical white. On Earth Auroras are usually photographed green and are from Solar winds descending the magnetic poles. Jupiter's magnetic fields are ten times stronger than Earth. And this is near Jupiter's north pole. Could this wide green circle actually be an aurora instead of a narrow lightning bolt?

[VictorBorun]

Green lightning, blue thunder?

if this lightning was thick hot plasma channel, then it should be the colour of blue giants: bluish

[VictorBorun]

Just a thought of why the lightning is green instead of electrical white. On Earth Auroras are usually photographed green and are from Solar winds descending the magnetic poles. Jupiter's magnetic fields are ten times stronger than Earth. And this is near Jupiter's north pole. Could this wide green circle actually be an aurora instead of a narrow lightning bolt?

if this lightning was a thin plasma fluorescence, then it should be bleak and invisible within low Sun's dusk

[VictorBorun]

I wonder why the flash looks yellow-green (lime)

Keep in mind that JunoCam doesn't take a "snapshot", but has its sensor readout synchronized with the spacecraft rotation. So it takes about a minute to collect a single image (there are four filters) as one axis is swept out. What that means is that transient events like lightning may not be caught in each band. We'd need to go back and look at the source data (either the truly raw data, with the image bands, or the output of the first pass processing which generates something more like a spatially accurate image) to see which channels actually recorded the flash.

so they chose a colour for the flash at random? Then why lime? To suggest bluish source filtered by yellow clouds ?

[Chris Peterson]

I wonder why the flash looks yellow-green (lime)

Keep in mind that JunoCam doesn't take a "snapshot", but has its sensor readout synchronized with the spacecraft rotation. So it takes about a minute to collect a single image (there are four filters) as one axis is swept out. What that means is that transient events like lightning may not be caught in each band. We'd need to go back and look at the source data (either the truly raw data, with the image bands, or the output of the first pass processing which generates something more like a spatially accurate image) to see which channels actually recorded the flash.

so they chose a colour for the flash at random? Then why lime? To suggest bluish source filtered by yellow clouds ?

Not at all. It may have only been caught by the green channel.

[Ann]

Keep in mind that JunoCam doesn't take a "snapshot", but has its sensor readout synchronized with the spacecraft rotation. So it takes about a minute to collect a single image (there are four filters) as one axis is swept out. What that means is that transient events like lightning may not be caught in each band. We'd need to go back and look at the source data (either the truly raw data, with the image bands, or the output of the first pass processing which generates something more like a spatially accurate image) to see which channels actually recorded the flash.

so they chose a colour for the flash at random? Then why lime? To suggest bluish source filtered by yellow clouds ?

Not at all. It may have only been caught by the green channel.

Thanks, Chris. That makes sense.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

Night lights on jupiter!

little dog in middle a lot like my dog!