Rare glimpse of two of Jupiter’s auroras reveal they're dancing to different beats
For the first time, scientists have observed the high-energy auroras pulsing on both of Jupiter's poles at the same time. They discovered that, unlike the northern and southern lights here on Earth, these two auroras on Jupiter behave nothing alike.
By studying rare observations of the gas giant’s polar lights, scientists helmed by William Dunn and Andrew Coates at University College London found that the northern and southern auroras brightened and faded completely independently from one another. The surprising finding, described today in the journal Nature Astronomy, is a step toward understanding what exactly is behind Jupiter’s auroras that shimmer with invisible X-rays at the poles.
Auroras are the signatures of a planet’s magnetic...