chandra_623 March 22nd, 2016
Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/UCL/W.Dunn et al, Optical: NASA/STScI
Solar storms are triggering X-ray auroras on Jupiter that are about eight times brighter than normal over a large area of the planet. These Jovian auroras are hundreds of times more energetic than Earth's "northern lights," according to a study using Chandra data. These images, where X-rays from Chandra (purple) have been combined with an optical image from Hubble, show Jupiter and its aurora during and two days after a giant solar storm arrived at the planet in 2011. This result is the first time that the auroras have been studied in X-ray light when such a massive storm impacted Jupiter.
Provider: Chandra X-ray Observatory
Image Source: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2016/jupiter/
Curator: Chandra X-ray Observatory, Cambridge, MA, USA
Image Use Policy: http://chandra.harvard.edu/photo/image_use.html
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