Jupiter Lightning Storms, Day and Night

Night and Day images of lightning on Jupiter
January 23, 2001
CreditNASA/JPL/University of Arizona
PIA NumberPIA02878
Language
  • english

Images of Jupiter's day and night sides taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Jan. 1, 2001, show that storms visible on the dayside are the sources of visible lightning when viewed on the night side.

The two dayside occurrences of high clouds, in the upper and lower parts of the image, are coincident with lightning storms seen on the dark side. The storms occur at 34.5 degrees and 23.5 degrees north latitude, within one degree of the latitudes at which similar lightning features were detected by the Galileo spacecraft.

The storms' longitudinal separation changes from one image to the next because the winds carrying them blow at different speeds
at the two latitudes. The images have been enhanced in contrast.

For higher resolution, click here.