'Brilliant curtains of light': NASA shares pic of Jupiter's northern and southern auroras

NASA on January 21 shared a throwback image of Jupiter’s northern and southern auroras captured by the Hubble Space Telescope, released in January nearly 23 years ago. Taking to its official Instagram handle, the space agency wrote that the largest planet Jupiter’s northern and southern auroras were captured in ultraviolet light by the space agency's telescope, Hubble. NASA added that the auroras are “brilliant curtains of light" that form in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere on the rear ends of its two poles. 

Jupiters auroras, according to NASA, emit violet X-rays blazes that have been the center of mystery for the astronomers. The northern and the southern blanket of lights pulsate out of sync, generating the energetic winds carrying the electrically charged particles. Scientists have been conducting research about the source of origin of the mystic auroras that eject out of the north and south poles of the solar system’s largest planet. Meanwhile, the X-rays in Jupiter’s northern lights are also a subject of mystery and scientists speculate that perhaps the electron particles in Jupiter’s auroras split into the oxygen ions as they hit Jupiter’s atmosphere at an estimated speed of about 3,000 miles (5,000 kilometers) per second, causing X-rays emission. 

“These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have ever seen”, said Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester, UK, and principal investigator of the aurora’s study in a NASA release. “It almost seems as if Jupiter is throwing a firework party for the imminent arrival of Juno.”

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Extraordinary 'vivid glow' 

In the iconic image, one can see the vibrant streaks of lights enclosing around the poles of the largest planet known for its colourful storms and the giant Great Red Spot. The lights present an extraordinary vivid glow as high-energy particles enter the planet’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles. NASA’s post garnered close to 77,000 likes, and a slew of reactions from the cosmo buffs as they found the phenomenon intriguing. “Just unbelievable .looks amazing,” one wrote in the comments thread. “wow,” another said. “So wild to see auroras on other planets,” the third added. 

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