JunoCam at PJ69

Juno’s Perijove-69 took place on 2025 Jan.28/29, and JunoCam produced its usual set of images, including beautiful and informative views of the northerly chaotic regions and the circumpolar cyclones. The highlight, though, was JunoCam’s first clear detection of both aurora and lightning in images near perijove on the night side.  Several images showed bright streaks of the northern aurora, and one image showed a cluster of lightning flashes. These flashes coincided with a spectacular convective plume that erupted recently on the NTBs jet stream, proving that it is indeed a giant thunderstorm.

The report is here (PDF):    Report-on-PJ69_w-Minifigs

The full-size figures are here (ZIP):  PJ69-report Figures

Here are Figure 5 (showing the lightning flashes located to the NTBs plume) and Figure 9 (a composite map of the whole north polar cluster of cyclones):

The British Astronomical Association supports amateur astronomers around the UK and the rest of the world. Find out more about the BAA or join us.