New Horizons Observations of Polar Lightning on Jupiter

Details New Horizons Observations of Polar Lightning on Jupiter New Horizons Observations of Polar Lightning on Jupiter

Oct 2007

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2007dps....39.0105w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #39, #1.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 39, p.408

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We report the first observations of lightning in the polar (latitude > 60 deg) regions of Jupiter. A series of 16 images, 8 in the north and 8 in the south, were obtained on 2007 March 3 with the LORRI visible imager on the New Horizons spacecraft. A total of 13 separate lightning flashes were detected, 9 in the north and 4 in the south, and events were observed in at least 12 of the images. The most poleward of the lightning flashes were at 80 deg N and 74 deg S, with three separate events observed within 0.5 degrees of 80 deg N. The total estimated energies radiated at optical wavelengths by the lightning events range between 0.2 GJ and 13 GJ. These energies are comparable to the values previously reported at mid-latitudes and are significantly larger than the values reported in the equatorial region, which is consistent with the hypothesis that internal heating is the main driver of convection on Jupiter. The spatial extent of the flashes suggests that the lightning originates near the 5-8 bar level, indicating that the source of the lightning is within the deep, water-rich region of Jupiter's atmosphere. None of the New Horizons images cover regions equator-ward of 45 deg in either hemisphere, so our observations provide no information on the occurrence of lightning at low latitudes.

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