Webb Spots Mysterious Lightshow on Jupiter That Baffles Scientists

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a surprising light display on Jupiter’s north pole. The telescope observed Jupiter’s auroras flickering and changing rapidly, showing behavior that confuses scientists. These lights are much larger and brighter than the Northern and Southern Lights seen on Earth. Webb’s new data offers fresh insight into Jupiter’s strong magnetic field and unique environment.

Auroras happen when high-energy particles hit a planet’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles. On Earth, this causes colorful lights called the Northern and Southern Lights. These lights appear when particles from the Sun interact with Earth’s upper atmosphere, causing gases to glow in green, red, and purple. Jupiter’s auroras are very different. They are hundreds of times brighter and much larger than those on Earth. In addition to the Sun, Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io sends particles into space. Jupiter’s strong magnetic field pulls in and speeds up these particles. When they crash into the atmosphere, they create intense bursts of light.

On December 25, 2023, Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera captured detailed images of Jupiter’s auroras. The research team led by Jonathan Nichols from the University of Leicester found that Jupiter’s auroras are very active and can change within seconds. They studied light from a molecule called the trihydrogen cation, which forms in auroras. This light varies more than scientists expected, helping us understand how Jupiter’s atmosphere heats and cools.

Scientists also compared Webb’s images with data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, which observes ultraviolet light. Some bright areas seen by Webb had no matching glow in Hubble’s pictures. This suggests a mix of many low-energy particles hitting Jupiter’s atmosphere, which was previously thought impossible. This difference shows how much more we need to learn about Jupiter’s auroras.

The research team plans to study why Webb and Hubble see different parts of the auroras. They will also compare Webb’s data with NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which studies Jupiter’s magnetic field. These combined observations may help solve the mystery of Jupiter’s flickering auroras. This research was published on May 12, 2025, in Nature Communications.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the most advanced observatory ever built. It lets scientists study distant galaxies and planets in our solar system with great detail. Discoveries like Jupiter’s unusual auroras help us understand the giant planet’s magnetic environment and its interaction with the moons and the Sun.