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The JWST Reveals Some Puzzling Surprises in Jupiter's Northern Aurora

March 09, 2026
The JWST Reveals Some Puzzling Surprises in Jupiter's Northern Aurora
By Evan Gough (https://ift.tt/H9J1oW0)

This image shows the two auroral footprints in Jupiter's aurora borealis created by the moons Io and Europa. The JWST observed these footprints and provided the first spectral measurements. These showed extreme temperature and densities in Io's footprint, a big surprise to the researchers behind the work. Image Credits: Webb/NIRCam Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, Jupiter ERS Team; image processing by Judy Schmidt. Webb/NIRSpec Credit: Katie L. Knowles (Northumbria University).

Jupiter's powerful, continuous aurorae dwarf those of Earth. Scientists know that Jupiter's Galilean moons created bright spots on Jupiter's northern aurora. The JWST observed these bright spots and generated infrared spectra of them for the first time. Those observations showed that Io's bright spot is extremely variable in both temperature and density, and researchers want to know why.



March 9, 2026 at 08:10PM
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