An Auroral Ring on Jupiter
Do other planets have aurora?
Terrestrial
and spacecraft observations have found evidence for aurora on
Venus,
Mars,
Jupiter,
Saturn,
Uranus, and
Neptune.
In the
above
false-color photograph, a good portion of an
auroral ring was captured recently in optical light by the
Galileo spacecraft
in orbit around
Jupiter.
Auroral rings
encircle a planet's magnetic pole, and result from charged particles
spiraling down magnetic field lines. Although the surroundings near
Jupiter are much different than
Earth, the
auroral rings appear similar.