30 June 2016

Hubble Images of Jupiters “Northern Lights” are Amazing!

Posted by Dan Satterfield

From NASA.

From NASA.

Jupiter has a MUCH stronger magnetic field than Earth does, and the Aurora’s it produces have been known about for a while, but this image above from Hubble though is one of the most incredible I’ve seen!

More from NASA/Hubble HERE. Next week a new spacecraft named JUNO will go into orbit around Jupiter, and we will learn a lot more about the large gas giant.

More on the JUNO spacecraft from NASA.

FYI- Jupiter is on the far side of its orbit from us and appears about as dim as it gets, but you can see it in the evening sky. Binoculars will usually allow you to see many of the moons, especially when it is closer to Earth.  See the image below from Sky and Telescope Magazine.

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