Jupiter’s northern lights mystery solved after Decades

Scientist has solved a decades-old mystery as to how Jupiter produces a spectacular burst of X-rays every few minutes. The X-rays are part of Jupiter’s aurora—bursts of visible and invisible light that occur when charged particles interact with the planet’s atmosphere. Astronomers have seen the way Jupiter’s magnetic field is compressed, which heats the particles and directs them down into the atmosphere of Jupiter.

These vibrations create plasma waves that send heavy ion particles “surfing” along magnetic field lines until they smash into the planet’s atmosphere. These heavy ion particles are originated from ionized volcanic gas pouring into space from giant volcanoes on Jupiter’s moon, Io. Similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights.