Overview
- A peer-reviewed AGU Advances study led by UC Berkeley reports that lightning on Jupiter ranges from Earth-like levels to bursts about 100 times more powerful.
- Researchers linked 613 microwave bursts to specific storms by combining Juno’s radiometer data with images from Hubble, JunoCam, and amateur astronomers.
- Juno flew over these isolated “stealth superstorms” 12 times, with four close passes recording bursts at roughly three pulses per second.
- The microwave method reads lightning power through clouds, yet translating those signals to total bolt energy is uncertain, with estimates up to 500 to perhaps 10,000 times an Earth strike.
- The findings point to Jupiter’s hydrogen-rich air and tall water–ammonia cloud towers as likely drivers of stronger discharges, sharpening how scientists compare gas-giant and Earth thunderstorms.