The south pole of Jupiter is seen in this annotated image of data from the ultraviolet spectrograph (UVS) instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft. Bands of bright white and blue near the south pole are Jupiter's southern aurora. But researchers also noticed an unusual bright flash of light well away from the auroral region, highlighted here by the yellow circle at about the 10 o'clock position (between longitudinal lines 270 and 240). Juno scientists believe it could be an indication of a bright, unpredictable, and extremely brief flash of light — known as a transient luminous event — that was triggered by lightning discharges from thunderstorms far below. The data for this UVS image was acquired on April 10, 2020.
More information about Juno is at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu .
Name | Value | Additional Values |
---|---|---|
Target | Jupiter | |
System | Jupiter | |
Target Type | Planet | |
Mission | Juno | |
Instrument Host | Juno | Cassini Orbiter |
Host Type | Orbiter | |
Instrument | Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS) | |
Detector | ||
Extra Keywords | Atmosphere, Color, Storm, Ultraviolet | |
Acquisition Date | ||
Release Date | 2020-10-27 | |
Date in Caption | 2020-04-10 | |
Image Credit | NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI | |
Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA24050 | |
Identifier | PIA24050 |