Hubble is capturing stunning photos of Jupiter’s giant auroras

The Hubble Space Telescope is capturing amazing photographs of Jupiter’s auroras, which look like sparkly swirls at the planet’s poles.

The vivid glows are created when charged particles enter the gas giant’s atmosphere near its magnetic poles; the collision with atoms and molecules in the atmosphere produce the light. While on Earth the biggest auroras are caused by solar storms — when high energy particles ejected from the Sun rain down on our planet — auroras on Jupiter are also caused by the charged particles ejected by other sources, like the planet’s orbiting moon Io. The auroras also never cease and are huge, covering areas bigger than the Earth itself.

"These auroras are very dramatic and among the most active I have...