NASA's Juno spaceprobe captured this curious image of a bright green dot on Jupiter. Turns out, it's not a dead pixel on the interplanetary display but rather the flash of a single lightning bolt. The image was taken about 19,900 miles above the Jovian clouds.
"On Earth, lightning bolts originate from water clouds, and happen most frequently near the equator, while on Jupiter lightning likely also occurs in clouds containing an ammonia-water solution, and can be seen most often near the poles," NASA explains.
In the coming months, Juno's orbits will repeatedly take it close to Jupiter as the spacecraft passes over the giant planet's night side, which will provide even more opportunities for Juno's suite of science instruments to catch lightning in the act."
