While a similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights, Jupiterâs is much more powerful THE decades-old mystery of how Jupiter produces a burst of X-rays every few minutes has been solved by scientists. The X-rays are part of the giant planet’s aurora – bursts of visible and invisible light that occur when charged particles interact with the planet’s atmosphere. While a similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights, Jupiter’s is much more powerful. It releases hundreds of gigawatts of energy, enough to briefly power all of human civilisation, researchers say. Researchers combined close-up observations of Jupiter’s environment by Nasa’s satellite Juno, which is currently orbiting the planet, with simultaneous X-ray measurements from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton observatory (which is in Earth’s own orbit).
Why Does Jupiter Blink? Experts Answer 4-Decade Mystery of the Gas Giant s Chronic X-Ray Aurora Flares
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Scientists solve 40-year mystery over Jupiter s X-ray aurora
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