Hubble spots aurora lighting up Jupiter's north pole

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Monday, July 4, 2016
Hubble spots auroras lighting up Jupiter's north pole
Imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope reveals an aurora above Jupiter's north pole.

Forget aurora borealis, there's a new light show to wow us -- on Jupiter!

Newly released imagery from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope reveals a dazzling aurora whirring above Jupiter's northern pole back in March.

Scientists say that the aurora on Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, is remarkably larger and more energetic than ours on Earth.

And, while Earth's auroras flare up during solar storms, astronomers believe that Jupiter's aurora is continuously fueled by the gas giant's strong magnetic field.

In this imagery, the aurora is particularly spectacular thanks to Hubble's exceptional sensitivity to ultraviolet light.

As the agency explains, "[Auroras] are created when high-energy particles enter a planet's atmosphere near its magnetic poles and collide with atoms of gas."