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Lightning on Other Planets |
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 These giant electric sparks are not unique to Earth. Among the mystifying and
gargantuan storms that rage throughout Jupiter’s atmosphere, cameras on NASA’s
Voyager I planetary explorer spacecraft found one familiar phenomenon — lightning.
Both Voyager I and II detected electrical signals from Jupiter characteristic of
lightning. This discovery was the first hard evidence that such violent electrical
discharges take place on other planets. The Galileo spacecraft also photographed what
appear to be visible lightning flashes in Jupiter's atmosphere. Detection of electrostatic
discharges on Saturn and Uranus by Voyager 2, along with radio signals associated with
lightning picked up by the Pioneer Venus orbiter and Russian Venera probe, may indicate
that lightning is commonplace in our solar system. |
Page Last Revised |
Page & Curator Information |
08/21/2001 |
Curator: Kay Grinter (kay.grinter-1@ksc.nasa.gov)
/ InDyne, Inc. |
