June 16 () –
In this view of a vortex near Jupiter’s north poleNASA’s Juno mission observed a flash of lightning.
On Earth, lightning originates in water clouds and occurs most often near the equator, while on Jupiter lightning is likely to also occur in clouds containing a solution of ammonia and water, and can be seen most often near the poles.
In the coming months, Juno’s orbits it will be repeatedly carried close to Jupiter as the spacecraft passes over the night side of the giant planetwhich will provide even more opportunities for Juno’s science instrument suite to catch lightning on the spot, reports NASA.
Juno captured this view when Juno completed its 31st close flyby of Jupiter on December 30, 2020. In 2022, citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the image from raw data from the JunoCam instrument aboard the spacecraft. At the time the raw image was taken, Juno was about 20,000 miles above Jupiter’s clouds, at a latitude of about 78 degrees as it approached the planet.
