
JWST Captures Jupiter’s Auroras ‘Fizzing And Popping With Light’
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Quick Summary:
- Jupiter is home to the most powerful auroras in the Solar System – permanent shimmering caps at its north and south poles, gleaming in non-visible wavelengths. The world’s most powerful space telescope has taken us a little bit further: new observations from JWST, obtained on 25 December 2023, reveal features astronomers have never seen before. It’s only fitting that Jupiter, nicknamed the king of the planets, wears a crown – and what a crown it is. The good thing is that, there’s no waiting for just the right moment. Any observation of the radiation thereon is going to capture something of the magnificent Jupiter since the right light is always there. The findings have been published in Nature in Nature Communications, and the collection of more observations across a range of wavelengths is ongoing. The new information, while currently somewhat baffling, is just such a puzzle piece. How it fits into the bigger picture might just need a few more pieces to make it more complete. It could help explain features of the auroral emission that currently baffle scientists – for instance, could help unravel the mystery of the Jovian auroras on Jupiter. The main source of auroras is much closer to home: its volcanic moon
- A recent observation by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found bright auroras on Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. The auroras were a hundred times brighter than the Northern Lights on Earth, more energetic, and larger. The unique features of the James Webb captured fast-varying auroral features, giving new insights with Webb’s NIRCam. The trihydrogen cation emission created in auroras was found to be more variable than thought before. This view helped scientists understand how the planet’s upper atmosphere was heated and cooled. The observation was led by Jonathan Nichols and a team of scientists from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. The glow was first captured on Christmas Day 2023 and was described in a study published in the journal Nature Communications. The previous auroras captured in detail were of Neptune, after a faint detection during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s flyby. This was because of a difference in the magnetic field that determined the span of the auroras. As Neptune’s atmosphere had cooled down since the 1980s, the aurora lights might have become dimmer. Scientists looking at Jupiter’s auroras also planned on comparing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft with further Webb observations to learn the cause
- Jupiter’s auroras are much larger and more intense than their earthly counterparts. New findings reveal the speed at which auroral emissions change on Jupiter. Discovery challenges past assumptions and may potentially reshape the ways scientists understand the interactions that occur in the Jovian atmosphere and in the space surrounding it. Astronomers say accounting for the observed light levels across the two telescopes would require large quantities of very low-energy particles, another discovery the team hadn’t expected. Further observations of these anomalies will reveal new clues, perhaps with the help of data obtained by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is presently orbiting Jupiter. The study, “Dynamic infrared aurora on Jupiter,” was published in Nature Communications on May 12, 2025, by Micah Hanks, Editor-in-Chief of The Co-Founder and Co-Editor-In-Chief, The International Astronomical Union (IAU) The IAU is the governing body of the International Astronomy Association (I.A.E.A) and the European Space Agency (ESO). The IA and E.U. collaborated on the study, which was led by Jonathan Nichols of the University of Leicester and published in the journal Nature.
Country-by-Country Breakdown:
Original Coverage
Jupiter is home to the most powerful auroras in the Solar System – permanent shimmering caps at its north and south poles, gleaming in non-visible wavelengths. The world’s most powerful space telescope has taken us a little bit further: new observations from JWST, obtained on 25 December 2023, reveal features astronomers have never seen before. It’s only fitting that Jupiter, nicknamed the king of the planets, wears a crown – and what a crown it is. The good thing is that, there’s no waiting for just the right moment. Any observation of the radiation thereon is going to capture something of the magnificent Jupiter since the right light is always there. The findings have been published in Nature in Nature Communications, and the collection of more observations across a range of wavelengths is ongoing. The new information, while currently somewhat baffling, is just such a puzzle piece. How it fits into the bigger picture might just need a few more pieces to make it more complete. It could help explain features of the auroral emission that currently baffle scientists – for instance, could help unravel the mystery of the Jovian auroras on Jupiter. The main source of auroras is much closer to home: its volcanic moon Read full article
Jupiter’s Aurora Captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Glows Brighter Than the Ones on Earth
A recent observation by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope found bright auroras on Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. The auroras were a hundred times brighter than the Northern Lights on Earth, more energetic, and larger. The unique features of the James Webb captured fast-varying auroral features, giving new insights with Webb’s NIRCam. The trihydrogen cation emission created in auroras was found to be more variable than thought before. This view helped scientists understand how the planet’s upper atmosphere was heated and cooled. The observation was led by Jonathan Nichols and a team of scientists from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. The glow was first captured on Christmas Day 2023 and was described in a study published in the journal Nature Communications. The previous auroras captured in detail were of Neptune, after a faint detection during the Voyager 2 spacecraft’s flyby. This was because of a difference in the magnetic field that determined the span of the auroras. As Neptune’s atmosphere had cooled down since the 1980s, the aurora lights might have become dimmer. Scientists looking at Jupiter’s auroras also planned on comparing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft with further Webb observations to learn the cause Read full article
James Webb Space Telescope Spots Unexpected Light Activity on Jupiter That Has Astronomers “Scratching Our Heads”
Jupiter’s auroras are much larger and more intense than their earthly counterparts. New findings reveal the speed at which auroral emissions change on Jupiter. Discovery challenges past assumptions and may potentially reshape the ways scientists understand the interactions that occur in the Jovian atmosphere and in the space surrounding it. Astronomers say accounting for the observed light levels across the two telescopes would require large quantities of very low-energy particles, another discovery the team hadn’t expected. Further observations of these anomalies will reveal new clues, perhaps with the help of data obtained by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is presently orbiting Jupiter. The study, “Dynamic infrared aurora on Jupiter,” was published in Nature Communications on May 12, 2025, by Micah Hanks, Editor-in-Chief of The Co-Founder and Co-Editor-In-Chief, The International Astronomical Union (IAU) The IAU is the governing body of the International Astronomy Association (I.A.E.A) and the European Space Agency (ESO). The IA and E.U. collaborated on the study, which was led by Jonathan Nichols of the University of Leicester and published in the journal Nature. Read full article
Jupiter’s auroras put Earth’s to shame. NASA’s Webb just got a stunning look at them
New observations from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have revealed that auroras on Jupiter are hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth. The enormous display recently documented in infrared by Webb – and compared to ultraviolet data from the Hubble Space Telescope – has raised unexpected questions about Jupiter’s extreme environment. The observations will help scientists better understand how Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is heated and cooled, according to the researchers. The team intends to conduct more observations with Webb, which can compare with data from NASA’S Juno spacecraft, which has been orbiting Jupiter for nine years. The research was published May 12, 2025, in the journal Nature Communications. It was led by Jonathan Nichols, an astronomer at the University of Leicester in the U.K. and published by the journal Astronomy and Astrophysics. It is the second time in two years that NASA has used the Webb telescope to study Jupiter’s auroras. The first time was in December 2012, when it captured images of Jupiter’s northern and southern lights. The second was in November 2013, when the telescope captured a close-up image of the planet’s aurora on the night of December 21, 2013. It’s the first time the Webb Telescope has captured auroras in Read full article
NASA Webb Reveals Breathtaking Detail And Mysterious Activity In Jupiter’s Auroras
Scientists have reported that data captured by NASA’s JWST reveals stunning details about Jupiter’s auroras. As a planet that’s over 1,300 times larger than the Earth, Jupiter was dubbed King of the Planets for a reason. Jupiter’s large reservoir of gaseous elements doesn’t simply lie idly in its atmosphere. These gases sometimes collide with charged particles from the Sun, and whenever this collision occurs near Jupiter’s magnetic field, it leads to a spectacular phenomenon called an aurora. Auroras are usually seen in the form of glowing light and are usually the most spectacular because they are always more vigorous, larger, and even brighter. The team also took pictures with the Hubble Space Telescope simultaneously, and they were perplexed by what they saw. Bizarrely, the brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble’s pictures. Read full article
Rare Webb telescope images show Aurora lights on Jupiter
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope was trained on Jupiter on Christmas Day 2023. It captured some of the most detailed images yet of the dancing aurora lights on the gas giant. The team found emissions of trihydrogen cation (H3+) more variable than previously estimated and discovered something new and mysterious about Jupiter’s auroras. The brightest areas seen by Webb’s NIRCam were invisible to NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope. More research is needed to understand the implications of Jupiter’s space environment, including using data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is currently orbiting the Jovian system. The two images below show the side-by-side observations from Webb (left) and Hubble’s ultraviolet light on the right. The images were published this week in the journal Nature Communications, and can be found at: http://www.nasa.gov/news/space-telescopes/james-webb-space- Telescope-Christmas-Day-2023. Read full article
NASA telescope captures auroras that glow ‘hundreds of times brighter’ than the Northern Lights
NASA telescope captures auroras that glow ‘hundreds of times brighter’ than the Northern Lights. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the ‘huge’ auroras on the largest planet in our Solar System. Similar to the aurora borealis on Earth, Jupiter’s auroras are created when high-energy particles from space collide with atoms of gas in the atmosphere near its magnetic poles. Findings will help to develop scientists’ understanding of Jupiter’s upper atmosphere and how it is heated and cooled. The brightest light observed by Webb had no real counterpart in Hubble’s pictures. This has left us scratching our heads. In order to cause the combination of brightness seen by both Webb and Hubble, we need to have a combination of high quantities of very low- energy particles hitting the atmosphere, which was previously thought to be impossible. We still don’t understand how this happens,” said scientist Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester. The images were captured with the telescope’s Near-Infrared Camera in December 25, 2023 by a team of scientists led by Jonathan Nichols. The research team also uncovered some unexplained findings in their data that left scientists ‘scratching their heads’ The spectacular auroras were Read full article
“100 Times Brighter”: NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures New Details Of Auroras On Jupiter
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has captured stunning images of dancing lights, called auroras, on Jupiter. Similar to the Northern Lights we see on Earth, these are a hundred times brighter because of a strong magnetic field. Scientists believed Jupiter’s aurora would change slowly, maybe taking around 15 minutes to fade in and out, but instead, they were fizzing and popping really fast. Scientists discovered that certain bright spots seen in Webb’s images did not appear in Hubble. The team now intends to investigate this disparity between the Hubble and Webb findings and look into the larger implications for Jupiter’s space environment and atmosphere. The largest planet has a moon called “Lo,” which has many volcanoes. As these volcanoes shoot out particles in space, some are pulled into Jupiter’s magnetic field and cause auroras. The images were taken on December 25, 2023, using Webb’s NIRCam. Read full article
Global Perspectives Summary:
Global media portray this story through varied cultural, economic, and political filters. While some focus on geopolitical ramifications, others highlight local impacts and human stories. Some nations frame the story around diplomatic tensions and international relations, while others examine domestic implications, public sentiment, or humanitarian concerns. This diversity of coverage reflects how national perspectives, media freedom, and journalistic priorities influence what the public learns about global events.
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Sources:
- Original Article
- Jupiter’s Aurora Captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, Glows Brighter Than the Ones on Earth
- James Webb Space Telescope Spots Unexpected Light Activity on Jupiter That Has Astronomers “Scratching Our Heads”
- Jupiter’s auroras put Earth’s to shame. NASA’s Webb just got a stunning look at them
- NASA Webb Reveals Breathtaking Detail And Mysterious Activity In Jupiter’s Auroras
- Rare Webb telescope images show Aurora lights on Jupiter
- NASA telescope captures auroras that glow ‘hundreds of times brighter’ than the Northern Lights
- “100 Times Brighter”: NASA’s Webb Telescope Captures New Details Of Auroras On Jupiter
Source: https://www.sciencealert.com/jwst-captures-jupiters-auroras-fizzing-and-popping-with-light