¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 March 24 [2]The pole of planet Jupiter is shown featuring aurora and lightning. See Explanation. Aurorae and Lightning on Jupiter Image Credit: [3]NASA, [4]JPL-Caltech, [5]SwRI; Text: [6]Natalia Lewandowska Explanation: Why does so much of Jupiter's lightning occur near its poles? Similar to [7]Earth, [8]Jupiter experiences both aurorae and lightning. Different from Earth, though, [9]Jupiter's lightning usually occurs near its poles -- while much of [10]Earth's lightning occurs near its equator. To help understand [11]the difference, NASA's [12]Juno spacecraft, currently orbiting Jupiter, has observed numerous aurora and [13]lightning events. The [14]featured image, taken by Juno's Stellar Reference Unit camera on 2018 May 24, shows Jupiter's northern [15]auroral oval and several bright dots and streaks. An eye-catching event is shown in the right inset image -- which is a flash of [16]Jupiter's lightning -- one of the closest images of [17]aurora and lightning ever. On [18]Earth (which is much nearer to the Sun than Jupiter), sunlight is bright enough to create, by itself, much stronger atmospheric heating at the equator than the poles, driving [19]turbulence, storms, and lightning. On [20]Jupiter, in contrast, atmospheric heating comes mostly from [21]its interior (as a remnant from its formation), leading to the hypothesis that more intense equatorial [22]sunlight reduces temperature differences between upper [23]atmospheric levels, hence reducing [24]equatorial lightning-creating storms. APOD via Facebook in: in [25]English, [26]Catalan and [27]Portuguese Tomorrow's picture: sol 3048 __________________________________________________________________ [28]< | [29]Archive | [30]Submissions | [31]Index | [32]Search | [33]Calendar | [34]RSS | [35]Education | [36]About APOD | [37]Discuss | [38]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [39]Robert Nemiroff ([40]MTU) & [41]Jerry Bonnell ([42]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [43]Specific rights apply. [44]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [45]ASD at [46]NASA / [47]GSFC & [48]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2103/AuroraLightningJupiter_Juno_1629.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.swri.org/ 6. https://www.haverford.edu/users/nlewandows 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap070325.html 8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/jupiter/overview/ 9. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/shallow-lightning-and-mushballs-reveal-ammonia-to-nasas-juno-scientists 10. https://earthsky.org/earth/where-on-earth-does-lightning-flash-most 11. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019EGUGA..2111691B/abstract 12. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/ 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970512.html 14. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/junos-sru-captures-jupiter-lightning 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap161206.html 16. https://www.space.com/38059-juno-finds-mysteries-in-jupiters-auroras.html 17. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/jupiters-shallow-flashes 18. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth 19. https://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/canuto_01/ 20. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap171214.html 22. https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zlngRTDQMAk/hqdefault.jpg 23. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Jupiter 24. https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/juno-solves-39-year-old-mystery-of-jupiter-lightning 25. https://www.facebook.com/AstronomyPictureOfTheDay 26. https://www.facebook.com/apod.cat 27. https://www.facebook.com/apodbrasil/ 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210323.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 32. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 34. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 36. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 37. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210324 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210325.html 39. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 40. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 41. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 42. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 43. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 44. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 45. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 46. https://www.nasa.gov/ 47. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 48. http://www.mtu.edu/