Read, Watch or Listen

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured unprecedented images of Jupiter's auroras, revealing details 100 times brighter than Earth's. Researchers found the auroras' rapid variations—sometimes changing by the second—unexpected. Comparing JWST's near-infrared data with Hubble's ultraviolet images showed a discrepancy: bright areas in JWST images lacked counterparts in Hubble's, suggesting a previously unknown mechanism involving low-energy particles. Future observations using JWST and data from the Juno mission will investigate this phenomenon further, furthering our understanding of Jupiter's atmospheric processes.

Prepared by Olivia Bennett and reviewed by editorial team.