PIA10096: Polar Lightning on Jupiter
Target Name: Jupiter
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: New Horizons
Spacecraft: New Horizons
Instrument: LORRI
Product Size: 960 samples x 720 lines
Produced By: Johns Hopkins University/APL
Full-Res TIFF: PIA10096.tif (692.2 kB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA10096.jpg (61.38 kB)

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Original Caption Released with Image:

Images taken by the New Horizons Long-Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) of Jupiter's night side showed lightning strikes. Each "strike" is probably the cumulative brightness of multiple strikes. This is the first lightning seen at high latitudes on Jupiter; it demonstrates that convection is not confined to lower latitudes, implying an internal driving heat source. Their power is consistent with previous lightning measurements at Jupiter's lower latitudes, equivalent to extremely bright terrestrial "super bolts."

Image Credit:
NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Southwest Research Institute

Image Addition Date:
2007-10-09