All articles tagged with #jupiter
New NASA Juno data suggest Jupiter’s lightning could be up to a million times more powerful than Earth’s, inferred from radio-emission measurements. The study highlights how Jupiter’s hydrogen-rich atmosphere and towering, long-lasting storms—including months-long 'stealth' storms—may amplify lightning energy, offering new insights into the gas giant’s weather and atmospheric dynamics.
A study using NASA’s Juno data suggests Jupiter’s lightning may be enormously more powerful than Earth’s—potentially up to a million times stronger. By analyzing the planet’s radio emissions rather than optical flashes and focusing on long-lived “stealth” storms in Jupiter’s belts, researchers estimated lightning pulses with power ranging from Earth-like bolts to far more powerful discharges. The findings, which consider Jupiter’s hydrogen-dominated atmosphere and towering storm clouds (up to ~62 miles tall), aim to explain why Jovian lightning is so energetic and were published in AGU Advances.
Tonight, March 26, 2026, the night sky features a 57%-illuminated Moon near Jupiter in Gemini after dark, with Sirius below and Castor and Pollux nearby—an accessible, binocular-friendly skywatching highlight.
Look east at sunset on March 26 to see Jupiter near a waxing Moon; the Moon–Jupiter close approach occurs at 9:19 PM EDT (1319 GMT), with Jupiter about 5 degrees to the lower-right of the Moon. The pairing is best viewed from the northern hemisphere and remains visible through the evening, with Jupiter staying prominent in the spring sky until solar conjunction in July. A small telescope or binoculars will reveal the Moon’s craters and lunar seas and Jupiter’s cloud bands and moons; for exact rise/set times, check Time and Date for your location.
Tonight (March 25) the first-quarter Moon will glow in the southern sky after dusk, appearing about four degrees from the bright planet Jupiter for a striking nocturnal pairing, while Saturn is approaching solar conjunction and will reappear in the pre-dawn sky in April; observers with binoculars or a telescope can enjoy a classic night-sky setup and learn the Moon’s changing phase as part of ongoing stargazing.
NASA’s Juno mission continues to reveal powerful storms and deep lightning activity on Jupiter, even as budget pressures force NASA to consider retiring aging planetary probes; the science highlights the trade-off between continuing observations and funding new or existing missions.
Astronomers led by Scott Sheppard and Edward Ashton announced 11 new Saturnian moons and 4 new Jovian moons, pushing Saturn to 285 moons and the solar system total to 442, highlighting ongoing discoveries of tiny, faint bodies in the outer solar system and widening Saturn’s lead over Jupiter.
Astronomers report four new moons around Jupiter and 11 around Saturn, bringing totals to 101 and 285 for the planets and lifting the solar system’s known moon count to 442. The tiny satellites (~3 km across) have wide, faint orbits and were discovered with large telescopes (Magellan–Baade, Subaru, CFHT) by teams led by Scott Sheppard, David Tholen, and Edward Ashton.
This weekend’s night-sky highlights include Friday’s Lynx constellation with Jupiter nearby, Saturday’s pre-dawn view of a 22% crescent Moon beneath the Summer Triangle (Deneb, Vega, Altair), and Sunday’s pre-dawn sighting of a 14% crescent Moon showing Earthshine, with Mercury coming into view the following week.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope captured a surprising cold spot and unusually high ion density beneath Io’s auroral footprint on Jupiter, showing real-time interactions between the planet’s magnetic field and its Galilean moons. The cold patch (~265°C) and dense plasma arise from Io’s volcanic plumes feeding a surrounding plasma torus, altering the aurora as ions crash into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Scientists will pursue follow-up observations to determine how often these footprints occur, with the findings published in Geophysical Research Letters.
NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory is converting solar X-ray data into audible soundscapes, letting listeners hear Jupiter’s auroras and Saturn’s rings. By mapping data attributes like brightness, position, and energy to musical qualities such as pitch and volume, scientists create accessible, immersive representations of space that expand how the public experiences planetary data.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has converted X-ray and multiwavelength observations of Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus into immersive soundscapes, translating brightness, energy and planetary positions into musical tones that accompany a rare planetary alignment.
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory released three new sonifications translating X-ray data from Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus into sound to celebrate a February planetary parade, using data from Hubble, Cassini, and Keck to create woodwind, siren, and cello-inspired audio that maps brightness and position in the images to pitch and volume.
On Feb 25, 2026, the waxing gibbous Moon travels through Taurus between Aldebaran and the Hyades, high in the southern sky after dark, with brilliant Jupiter (mag -2.4) visible nearby and the Pleiades nearby as well; a telescope or binoculars enhances the view of this night-sky lineup as you watch the Moon glow in the Bull’s horns.
New measurements from NASA's Juno mission refine Jupiter's dimensions, revealing the gas giant is 8 km narrower at the equator and 24 km flatter at the poles than previously estimated, thanks to improved radio occultation data and wind-aware modeling.