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X-ray & Optical Images of Jupiter
Solar storms are triggering X-ray auroras on Jupiter that are about eight times brighter than normal over a large area of the planet. These Jovian auroras are hundreds of times more energetic than Earth's 'northern lights,' according to a study using Chandra data. These images with data from Chandra and Hubble show Jupiter and its aurora during and two days after a giant solar storm arrived at the planet in 2011. This result is the first time that the auroras have been studied in X-ray light when such a massive storm impacted Jupiter.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCL/W.Dunn et al, Optical: NASA/STScI)
Solar storms are triggering X-ray auroras on Jupiter that are about eight times brighter than normal over a large area of the planet. These Jovian auroras are hundreds of times more energetic than Earth's 'northern lights,' according to a study using Chandra data. These images with data from Chandra and Hubble show Jupiter and its aurora during and two days after a giant solar storm arrived at the planet in 2011. This result is the first time that the auroras have been studied in X-ray light when such a massive storm impacted Jupiter.
(Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCL/W.Dunn et al, Optical: NASA/STScI)
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Artistic Rendering of the Jupiter's Aurora and Magnetosphere.
Jupiter boasts some of the most powerful aurora in the solar system. Compared to the Earth's aurora, it is a few hundred times more powerful and brighter in the all spectrum range. Monitored observations of the Jupiter's X-ray aurora are essential to compare several parameters of the X-ray aurora, such as brightness at each location, with the changes in the solar wind.
(Credit: JAXA.)
Jupiter boasts some of the most powerful aurora in the solar system. Compared to the Earth's aurora, it is a few hundred times more powerful and brighter in the all spectrum range. Monitored observations of the Jupiter's X-ray aurora are essential to compare several parameters of the X-ray aurora, such as brightness at each location, with the changes in the solar wind.
(Credit: JAXA.)
Return to Jupiter (March 22, 2016)
Revised: November 29, 2022