Solar storms ignite Jupiter’s auroras

Solar storms trigger X-ray auroras on Jupiter that are about eight times brighter than normal over a large area of the planet and hundreds of times more energetic than Earth’s northern lights.

That’s according to a new study published March 22, 2016 in the Journal of Geophysical Research. The research – using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory – is the first time Jupiter’s auroras have been studied in X-ray light when a giant solar storm arrived at the planet.

Read More: https://earthsky.org/space/solar-storms-trigger-jupiters-northern-lights