Beyond Earth: Exploring auroras across the solar system
Discover how planets like Jupiter and Saturn showcase their own stunning auroral displays.
NASA said the Webb Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on Jupiter, which are “hundreds of times brighter” than here on Earth.
Seeing the Aurora Borealis dance in the night sky is a bucket list item for countless people, but the enchanting phenomenon is not exclusive to Earth. Decades of research and the use of advanced telescopes have helped scientists observe the cosmic lights on other planets, which has helped us learn more about Earth's celestial neighbors.
Mars
A planet-wide display of the aurora brightened the Martian sky during a geomagnetic storm in September 2017. The event was captured by an ultraviolet sensor on NASA's MAVEN spacecraft, which orbits the planet.
Ultraviolet images of aurora on Mars on Sept. 12-13, 2017. (NASA/JPL/Univ. of Colorado)
"Unlike auroras on Earth, the Martian aurora is not concentrated at the planet's polar regions. This is because Mars has no strong magnetic field like Earth's to concentrate the aurora near the poles," NASA explained.
Jupiter
Celestial lights have been spotted around the north and south poles of Jupiter on several occasions, but the powerful James Webb Space Telescope captured the phenomenon in stunning detail on Dec. 25, 2023. The aurora is hundreds of times brighter than those on Earth, in part due to Jupiter's massive magnetic field.
These observations of Jupiter’s auroras (shown on the left of the above image) at 3.36 microns (F335M) were captured with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) on Dec. 25, 2023. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Ricardo Hueso (UPV), Imke de Pater (UC Berkeley), Thierry Fouchet (Observatory of Paris), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley), Joseph DePasquale (STScI), Jonathan Nichols (University of Leicester), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)
The speed at which the aurora moved was particularly fascinating and surprising to scientists. “We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out ponderously, perhaps over a quarter of an hour or so. Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second," said Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. "It just blew me away!"
Saturn
Since its launch in the 1990s, the Hubble Space Telescope has helped astronomers make countless discoveries about the cosmos, ranging from mysterious objects millions of light years away to worlds closer to home. In 2004, Hubble spotted a ring of aurora in the sky above Saturn, which defied scientists' expectations.
An image of the dynamic aurora on Saturn, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. Credit: NASA, ESA, J. Clarke (Boston University), and Z. Levay (STScI)
According to NASA, the aurora on Earth may last only a few minutes, but on Saturn, it can last for days.
Uranus
This is a composite image of Uranus by Voyager 2 and two different observations made by Hubble — one for the ring and one for the auroras. Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA, L. Lamy / Observatoire de Paris
In the 2010s, aurora on Uranus helped scientists make discoveries about the planet, which is more than 1.6 billion miles away from Earth.
"By watching the auroras over time, they collected the first direct evidence that these powerful shimmering regions rotate with the planet," NASA explained. "They also re-discovered Uranus’ long-lost magnetic poles, which were lost shortly after their discovery by Voyager 2 in 1986 due to uncertainties in measurements and the featureless planet surface."
Neptune
Scientists had long suspected auroras occasionally glowed on Neptune, but the phenomenon was not confirmed until 2023 when the James Webb Space Telescope focused on the planet.
At the left, an enhanced-color image of Neptune from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. At the right, that image is combined with data from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. The cyan splotches represent auroral activity. Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Heidi Hammel (AURA), Henrik Melin (Northumbria University), Leigh Fletcher (University of Leicester), Stefanie Milam (NASA-GSFC)
“Turns out, actually imaging the auroral activity on Neptune was only possible with Webb’s near-infrared sensitivity," said Henrik Melin, lead author of a study focused on the planet.
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