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Astronomy Picture of the Day

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.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

An Auroral Ring on Jupiter

Explanation: Do other planets have aurora? Terrestrial and spacecraft observations have found evidence for aurora on Venus , Mars , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , and Neptune . In the above false-color photograph , a good portion of an auroral ring was captured recently in optical light by the Galileo spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter . Auroral rings encircle a planet's magnetic pole, and result from charged particles spiraling down magnetic field lines. Although the surroundings near Jupiter are much different than Earth , the auroral rings appear similar.

Date June 9, 1997
Credit Credit: Galileo Project, JPL, NASA
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.