Lightning on Jupiter

Astronomy Picture of the Day · 1997-05-12 · NASA (public domain)

Lightning on Jupiter — APOD for 1997-05-12

Does lightning occur only on Earth? Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected radio signals consistent with lightning on other planets, including Venus , Jupiter , Saturn , Uranus , and Neptune . In the above photograph , optical flashes from Jupiter were photographed recently by the Galileo orbiter . Each of the circled dots indicates lightning . The numbers label lines of latitude . The size of the largest spot is about 500 kilometers across and might be high clouds illuminated by several bright lightning strokes.

Astronomy Picture of the Day for 1997-05-12 — image & explanation courtesy of NASA (public domain), mirrored at Tukuk-OS for reading and search convenience.