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\t\t\t\t\t\t12\/05\/2025<\/span> The NASA\/ESA\/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our Solar System\u2019s largest planet. The dancing lights observed on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. With Webb\u2019s advanced sensitivity, astronomers have studied the phenomena to better understand Jupiter\u2019s magnetosphere.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The auroras are created when high-energy particles enter a planet\u2019s atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas. Not only are the auroras on Jupiter huge in size, they are also hundreds of times more energetic than auroras on Earth. Here, auroras are caused by solar storms \u2013\u00a0when charged particles rain down on the upper atmosphere, excite gases and cause them to glow colours of red, green and purple. Meanwhile, Jupiter has an additional source for its auroras; the strong magnetic field of the gas giant grabs charged particles from its surroundings. This includes not only the charged particles within the solar wind but also the particles thrown into space by its orbiting moon Io, known for its numerous and large volcanoes. Io\u2019s volcanoes spew particles that, remarkably, escape the moon\u2019s gravity and orbit Jupiter. A barrage of charged particles unleashed by the sun during solar storms also reaches the planet. Jupiter\u2019s large and powerful magnetic field captures charged particles and accelerates them to tremendous speeds. These speedy particles slam into the planet\u2019s atmosphere at high energies, which excites the gas and causes it to glow.<\/p>\n Now, Webb\u2019s unique capabilities are providing new insights into the auroras on Jupiter. The telescope\u2019s sensitivity allows astronomers to increase the shutter speed in order to capture fast-varying auroral features. New data was captured with Webb\u2019s\u00a0Near-InfraRed Camera\u00a0(NIRCam) on Christmas Day 2023 by a team of scientists led by Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat a Christmas present it was\u00a0\u2013 it just blew me away!\u201d\u00a0shared Jonathan. \u201cWe wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting it to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so. Instead we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n The team\u2019s data found that the emission from the trihydrogen ion, known as H3+, is far more variable than previously believed. The observations will help develop scientists\u2019 understanding of how Jupiter\u2019s upper atmosphere is heated and cooled.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team also uncovered some unexplained observations in their data.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat made these observations even more special is that we also took pictures simultaneously in the ultraviolet with the NASA\/ESA\u00a0Hubble Space Telescope,\u201d\u00a0added\u00a0Jonathan.\u00a0\u201cBizarrely, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble\u2019s pictures. This has left us scratching our heads. In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have an apparently impossible combination of high quantities of very low energy particles hitting the atmosphere \u2013 like a tempest of drizzle! We still don\u2019t understand how this happens.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The team now plans to study this discrepancy between the Hubble and Webb data and to explore the wider implications for Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere and space environment. They also intend to follow up this research with more Webb observations, which they can compare with data from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft to better explore the cause of the enigmatic bright emission.\u00a0<\/p>\n These insights may also support the European Space Agency\u2019s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer,\u00a0Juice, which is en route to Jupiter to make detailed observations of the giant gas planet and its three large ocean-bearing moons \u2013 Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Juice will take a look at Jupiter’s auroras with seven unique\u00a0scientific instruments, including two imagers. These close-up measurements will help us understand how the planet’s magnetic field and atmosphere interact, as well as the effect that charged particles from Io and the other moons have on Jupiter’s atmosphere.<\/p>\n These results were obtained from data using Webb\u2019s Cycle 2 observing programme #4566\u00a0and Hubble\u2019s observing programme #17471. The results were published today in\u00a0Nature Communications<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \nMore information<\/b> Webb is an international partnership between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).<\/p>\n Release on esawebb.org<\/p>\n \nContact:<\/b>
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Webb\u00a0is the largest, most powerful telescope ever launched into space. Under an international collaboration agreement, ESA provided the telescope\u2019s launch service, using the Ariane 5 launch vehicle. Working with partners, ESA was responsible for the development and qualification of Ariane 5 adaptations for the Webb mission and for the procurement of the launch service by Arianespace. ESA also provided the workhorse spectrograph\u00a0NIRSpec\u00a0and 50% of the mid-infrared instrument\u00a0MIRI, which was designed and built by a consortium of nationally funded European Institutes (The MIRI European Consortium) in partnership with JPL and the University of Arizona.<\/p>\n
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