APOD
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.
Lightning on Jupiter
Explanation: Does lightning occur only on Earth? Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected radio signals consistent with lightning on other planets, including Venus , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , and Neptune . In the above photograph , optical flashes from Jupiter were photographed recently by the Galileo orbiter . Each of the circled dots indicates lightning . The numbers label lines of latitude . The size of the largest spot is about 500 kilometers across and might be high clouds illuminated by several bright lightning strokes.
| Date | May 12, 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. |