A spectacular and dramatic ultraviolet auroras on Jupiter is generated by charged particles escaping its volcanic moon Io, according to a new NASA study.
The origins of the bright blue circular aurora were revealed by the NASA Juno spacecraft, which is currently studying the gas giant from orbit.
The Jovian polar light show, also known as the auroral dawn storms, brighten up the early morning north and south poles of the massive world.
These immense, transient displays of light evolve in a similar way to aurora substorms that undulate across Earth s polar skies, according to NASA and the University of Liège team behind the new discovery.
Científicos asombrados por enigmático fenómeno en la atmósfera de Júpiter larepublica.pe - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from larepublica.pe Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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VIDEO: A study conducted by researchers from the Laboratory for Planetary and Atmospheric Physics of the University of Liege, shows for the first time global views of a dawn storm, a. view more
Credit: @University of Liège
The storms, which consist of brightenings and broadenings of the dawn flank of an oval of auroral activity that encircles Jupiter s poles, evolve in a pattern surprisingly reminiscent of familiar surges in the aurora that undulate across Earth s polar skies, called auroral substorms, according to the authors.
The new study is the first to track the storms from their birth on the nightside of the giant planet through their full evolution. It was published today in
Researchers had been baffled why these auroras appeared every morning on Jupiter, in both the north and the south.
However, NASA s Juno probe, which was launched in 2011 and has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, now has the answer.
Using data from Juno s Ultraviolet Spectograph instrument, scientists have been able to unravel the mystery of dawn storms on Jupiter.
NASA researchers found the storms first come to fruition on the nightside of Jupiter.
NASA finally unravels the mystery of dawn storm auroras on Jupiter (Image: GETTY)
Dawn storms occur in the morning of Jupiter (Image: NASA)
As the planet rotates, the dawn storms also rotate into the dayside of the planet, where the features of the aurora grow in brightness.