US space agency NASA's Juno spacecraft has observed the flash of a bolt of lightning near Jupiter's north pole. The space agency has released a photo from the mission orbiting Jupiter. The spacecraft took this photo on 20 December 2020, when Juno completed its 31st flyby around Jupiter. According to a NASA news release, in 2022, scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the photo from raw data from the JunoCam instrument mounted on the spacecraft.
At the time the RAW photo was taken, Juno was about 19,900 miles (32,000 km) above Jupiter's cloud tops. It came close to the planet at a latitude of about 78 degrees. Explaining the lightning bolts seen on Jupiter, NASA said that on Earth, lightning bolts are produced by water clouds and are often seen near the equator. But lightning on Jupiter most likely occurs in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution and can often be seen near the poles.
earth lightning
According to scientists, Juno's data is providing new insight into how the process of lightning on Jupiter is similar to that on Earth, despite the dramatic differences between the two planets. Lightning is the most powerful naturally occurring electrical source on Earth. Jupiter is composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, along with other gases. The fifth planet from the Sun with a diameter of about 1,43,000 km appears to us with some colorful stripes and large storms.
Juno orbiting Jupiter since 2016
Juno has been orbiting Jupiter, the largest planet in the Solar System, since 2016. It is gaining information on the planet's atmosphere, internal structure and internal magnetic field, among other things. The size of Jupiter can be gauged from the fact that more than 1300 Earths can fit in it. At the same time, our earth is counted among the small planets of the solar system.
0 Comments