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Aurora on Jupiter

author: Walter B. Myers/Novapix

reference: a-jup98-99001

Image Size 300 DPI: 33 * 25 cm

This is how auroras on Jupiter's north pole might look from a distance of about a quarter million miles. On the Sunlit side can be seen churning clouds of ammonia ice, ammonium hydrosulfide, and water ice. The "dark" side reveals a dazzling aurora and brilliant flashes of lightning hundreds of times brighter than lightning on Earth. Unlike Earth's north and south pole auroras which are powered by charged particles from the Sun, auroras on Jupiter are driven by particles emitted by Jupiter's volcanic moon Io. Io in fact leaves a distinct auroral "footprint" on Jupiter's poles, seen here as a whitish dot with a trailing, comet-like tail at the seven 0'clock position. Jupiter's moons Europa and Ganymede also have corresponding, albeit fainter footprints on the far side of the larger auroral oval.

Keywords for this photo:

ASTRONOMY - AURORA - AURORA BOREALIS - ILLUSTRATION - JUPITER - MAGNETIC FIELD - PLANET -