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    News Release Archive:

News Release 412 of 790
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    *December 14, 2000* 12:00 PM (EST)


    *News Release Number:* STScI-2000-38


  Satellite Footprints Seen in Jupiter Aurora

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    Image: Aurora Crowns Jupiter's North Pole

Aurora Crowns Jupiter's North PoleSTScI-PRC2000-38


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    ABOUT THIS IMAGE:

This is a spectacular NASA Hubble Space Telescope close-up view of an
electric-blue aurora that is eerily glowing one half billion miles away
on the giant planet Jupiter. Auroras are curtains of light resulting
from high-energy electrons racing along the planet's magnetic field into
the upper atmosphere. The electrons excite atmospheric gases, causing
them to glow. The image shows the main oval of the aurora, which is
centered on the magnetic north pole, plus more diffuse emissions inside
the polar cap.

Though the aurora resembles the same phenomenon that crowns Earth's
polar regions, the Hubble image shows unique emissions from the magnetic
"footprints" of three of Jupiter's largest moons. (These points are
reached by following Jupiter's magnetic field from each satellite down
to the planet).

Auroral footprints can be seen in this image from Io (along the left
hand limb), Ganymede (near the center), and Europa (just below and to
the right of Ganymede's auroral footprint). These emissions, produced by
electric currents generated by the satellites, flow along Jupiter's
magnetic field, bouncing in and out of the upper atmosphere. They are
unlike anything seen on Earth.

This ultraviolet image of Jupiter was taken with the Hubble Space
Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) on November 26, 1998. In this
ultraviolet view, the aurora stands out clearly, but Jupiter's cloud
structure is masked by haze.

December 14, 2000 inaugurates an intensive two weeks of joint
observation of Jupiter's aurora by Hubble and the Cassini spacecraft.
Cassini will make its closest approach to Jupiter enroute to a July 2004
rendezvous with Saturn. A second campaign in January 2001 will consist
of Hubble images of Jupiter's day-side aurora and Cassini images of
Jupiter's night-side aurora, obtained just after Cassini has flown past
Jupiter. The team will develop computer models that predict how the
aurora operates, and this will yield new insights into the effects of
the solar wind on the magnetic fields of planets.

*Object Name:* Jupiter

*Image Type:* Astronomical

Credit: NASA <http://www.nasa.gov/>/ESA <http://spacetelescope.org/>,
John Clarke (University of Michigan)

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