The Juno spacecraft from NASA is a perpetual gift. The Juno spacecraft just got an amazing image of a greenish glow from a lightning strike within a spinning vortex close to Jupiter’s north pole as it looped around the largest planet in our solar system.
The NASA photos were obtained 32,001 kilometres (19,900 miles) above the planet’s cloud top. Scientists anticipate that the image will aid in their understanding of how powerful storms, lightning, and lightning-like occurrences manifest themselves on the gas giant.
On Earth, lightning strikes generally form near the equator and come from water clouds, however on Jupiter lightning strikes come from ammonia and water clouds. They mainly occur close to the planet’s poles.
“Our upcoming flybys in July and October will bring us even closer, leading up to our twin flyby encounters with Io in December of this year and February of next year, when we fly within 1,500 kilometers of its surface,” Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator was quoted as saying by CNN.
Notably, Juno’s orbit is becoming closer to Jupiter with time, giving researchers additional chances to keep a close eye on the planet. Additionally, the spacecraft is anticipated to pass through a few of Jupiter’s rings, providing additional information on their formation and makeup.