ESA Portal - Uncovering the mysteries of Jupiter's aurora

Media Centre

Press Releases ESA Television Launch Media Corner Exhibitions

Services

Calendar Publications Frequently asked questions ESA-sponsored Conferences Help Site Credits Portal terms of use Comments Subscribe

Uncovering the mysteries of Jupiter's aurora

18 December 2000

Back to article

Download:

HI-RES JPEG (Size: 270 kb)

HI RES TIFF (Size: 2418 kb)

This ultraviolet image of Jupiter was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on 26 November 1998. The bright emissions above the dark blue background are auroral lights, similar to those seen above the Earth's polar regions. The aurorae are curtains of light resulting from high energy electrons following the planet's magnetic field into the upper atmosphere, where collisions with atmospheric atoms and molecules produce the observed light.

Credits: NASA, ESA & John T. Clarke (Univ. of Michigan)