Lightning on Jupiter

In the featured Juno photograph, an optical flash was captured in a large cloud vortex near Jupiter‘s north pole.

Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected lightning on other planets, including Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, and lightning is likely on Venus, Uranus, and Neptune. Lightning is a sudden rush of electrically charged particles from one location to another. 

Images and data from NASA’s Jupiter-orbiting Juno spacecraft bolster previous speculation that Jovian lightning is also created in clouds containing water and ice.

During the next few months, Juno will perform several close sweeps over Jupiter’s night side, likely allowing the robotic probe to capture more data and images of Jovian lightning.

source APOD