Juno mission observes ‘sprites’ dancing in Jupiter’s atmosphere

CNN — Blue sprites and elves have been detected twirling in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter by NASA’s Juno mission. “On Earth, sprites and elves appear reddish in color due to their interaction with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere,” said lead study author and Juno planetaryscientist Rohini S. Giles, in a statement. SwRI/JPL-Caltech/NASA But Juno’s team also believes the instrument has captured evidence of sprites and elves in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere. The more our team looked into it, the more we realized Juno may have detected a on Jupiter.” Juno has captured 11 of these bright flashes so far occurring in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere over a region where intense lightning-filled thunderstorms form.