Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 June 25 [2]A large swirling cloud on Jupiter is shown with a bright green spot near its top. The cloud is surrounded by other less descript parts of Jupiter's upper atmosphere. Please see the explanation for more detailed information. Lightning on Jupiter Image Credit: [3]NASA/[4]JPL-Caltech/[5]SwRI/[6]MSSS; Processing & [7]License: [8]Kevin M. Gill Explanation: Does lightning occur only on Earth? No. Spacecraft in our Solar System have detected lightning on other planets, including [9]Mars, [10]Jupiter and [11]Saturn, and lightning is likely on [12]Venus, [13]Uranus, and Neptune. Lightning is a [14]sudden rush of electrically charged particles from one location to another. [15]On Earth, drafts of colliding ice and water droplets usually create lightning-generating charge separation, but [16]what happens on Jupiter? Images and data from NASA's [17]Jupiter-orbiting Juno [18]spacecraft bolster previous speculation that [19]Jovian lightning is also created in clouds containing water and ice. In the [20]featured Juno photograph, an optical flash was captured in a large cloud vortex near [21]Jupiter's north pole. During the next few months, Juno will perform several close sweeps over Jupiter's night side, likely allowing the robotic probe to capture more data and images of [22]Jovian lightning. Tomorrow's picture: mountains below venus __________________________________________________________________ [23]< | [24]Archive | [25]Submissions | [26]Index | [27]Search | [28]Calendar | [29]RSS | [30]Education | [31]About APOD | [32]Discuss | [33]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [34]Robert Nemiroff ([35]MTU) & [36]Jerry Bonnell ([37]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [38]Specific rights apply. [39]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [40]ASD at [41]NASA / [42]GSFC, [43]NASA Science Activation & [44]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2306/LightningCloud_JunoGill_960.jpg 3. https://www.nasa.gov/ 4. https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/ 5. https://www.swri.org/ 6. http://www.msss.com/ 7. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ 8. https://www.flickr.com/people/kevinmgill/ 9. https://esto.nasa.gov/first-direct-measurements-of-lightning-on-mars/ 10. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap971216.html 11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080505.html 12. https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05930 13. https://eos.org/features/planetary-lightning-same-physics-distant-worlds 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120723.html 15. https://www.lightningmaps.org/ 16. https://as1.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/04/78/17/62/1000_F_478176241_p5m7EUHkXjdNiStGknkInH6KvCbwm3NE.jpg 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220828.html 18. https://www.missionjuno.swri.edu/spacecraft/ 19. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022DPS....5430203B/abstract 20. https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA25020 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap180308.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap970512.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230624.html 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 31. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 32. https://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230625 33. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230626.html 34. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 35. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 36. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 37. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 38. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 39. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 40. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 41. https://www.nasa.gov/ 42. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 43. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 44. http://www.mtu.edu/