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Powerful telescope shows amazing new details of Jupiter

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has captured new details of the auroras on our solar system’s largest planet. The image shows two views of Jupiter. On the left is a close up of the auroras which look like rings on an orange surface. The right hand image shows the multicoloured striped planet. NASA, ESA, CSA, Jonathan Nichols (University of Leicester), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)

The mega-powerful James Webb Telescope has been sending incredible images of space back to Earth since it became operational in 2022.

And it has now captured some amazing new details of Jupiter's auroras.

Auroras are a natural phenomenon that happen when high-energy particles enter a planet's atmosphere and create one of nature's most amazing light shows.

US government space agency Nasa has released a set of images of Jupiter's auroras which were observed by the telescope in December 2023.

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Jupiter's Auroras captured by James Webb TelescopeNASA, ESA, CSA, Jonathan Nichols (University of Leicester), Mahdi Zamani (ESA/Webb)

Jupiter's Auroras captured by James Webb Telescope (JWT)

Nasa describes these auroras as "dancing lights hundreds of times brighter than those seen on Earth", such as the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis.

The strength and brightness is caused by the planet's really strong magnetic field which pulls in even more charged particles towards it from its surroundings.

One of the places it 'grabs' the particles from is Jupiter's moon Io, which is covered in hugely active volcanoes.

The volcanoes spew dust, lava and gas that escape Io's gravity and orbit Jupiter.

Nasa say that when combined with particles from the Sun, Jupiter's powerful magnetic field captures all of the charged particles and accelerates them to extremely high speeds.

"These speedy particles slam into the planet's atmosphere, which excites the gas and causes it to glow."

Jupiter's moon Io: The hugely active volcanic surface of Io was captured by NASA's Juno observer in 2023. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS / Image processing by Gerald Eichstädt

Jupiter's moon Io: The hugely active volcanic surface of Io was captured by NASA's Juno observer in 2023.

The team of scientists studying Jupiter say these images can help provide a better understanding of the planet.

The new images were originally taken by JWT's Near-Infrared Camera on Christmas Day in 2023, by a team at the University of Leicester, led by Jonathan Nichols.

"What a Christmas present it was – it just blew me away!" he said.

"We wanted to see how quickly the auroras change, expecting them to fade in and out... Instead, we observed the whole auroral region fizzing and popping with light, sometimes varying by the second."