Lightning on Jupiter
Does lightning occur only on Earth? Spacecraft in our
Solar System have detected radio signals consistent with
lightning on other planets, including
Venus,
Jupiter,
Saturn,
Uranus, and
Neptune.
In the
above photograph,
optical flashes from
Jupiter were photographed recently by the
Galileo orbiter.
Each of the circled dots indicates
lightning.
The numbers label lines of
latitude.
The size of the largest spot is about 500 kilometers across and
might be high clouds illuminated by several bright lightning strokes.