Media Information

 
 
 
Collection:
NASA Solarsystem Collection
title:
Jupiter Aurora
description:
In this Hubble telescope picture, a curtain of glowing gas is wrapped around Jupiter's north pole like a lasso. This curtain of light, called an aurora, is produced when high-energy electrons race along the planet's magnetic field and into the upper atmosphere where they excite atmospheric gases, causing them to glow.

The aurora resembles the same phenomenon that crowns Earth's polar regions. But this Hubble image, taken in ultraviolet light, also shows the glowing "footprints" of three of Jupiter's largest moons: Io, Ganymede, and Europa. Spanning next two months in 2004, Jupiter's aurora will be scrutinized by two observatories: the Hubble telescope and the Cassini spacecraft, which will fly by the planet on its voyage to Saturn.

*Image Credit*: John Clarke (University of Michigan) and NASA
keywords:
Solar System Exploration
keywords:
SSE
keywords:
Space
keywords:
NASA
keywords:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
keywords:
JPL
keywords:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
keywords:
Planets
facet_what:
Earth
facet_what:
Saturn
facet_what:
Jupiter
facet_what:
Cassini
facet_what:
Polar
facet_what:
Io
facet_what:
Europa
facet_what:
Ganymede
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
facet_where:
Saturn
facet_where:
Jupiter
facet_where:
Europa
facet_where:
Ganymede
facet_where:
Michigan
facet_where:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
facet_when:
2004
facet_when_year:
2004
UID:
SPD-SLRSY-1866
original url:

Jupiter Aurora