Juno was about 19,900 miles above Jupiter’s cloud tops
(NASA) – In this view of a vortex near Jupiter’s north pole, NASA’s Juno mission observed the glow from a bolt of lightning.
On Earth, lightning bolts originate from water clouds and happen most frequently near the equator, while on Jupiter lightning likely also occurs in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution, and can be seen most often near the poles.
In the coming months, Juno’s orbits will repeatedly take it close to Jupiter as the spacecraft passes over the giant planet’s night side, which will provide even more opportunities for Juno’s suite of science instruments to catch lightning in the act.
Juno captured this view as Juno completed its 31st close flyby of Jupiter on Dec. 30, 2020.
In 2022, Citizen scientist Kevin M. Gill processed the image from raw data from the JunoCam instrument aboard the spacecraft.
At the time the raw image was taken, Juno was about 19,900 miles above Jupiter’s cloud tops, at a latitude of about 78 degrees as it approached the planet.
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