Volcanic Moon Creates Glowing Aurora Spots on Jupiter

Unexpected spots on Jupiter's poles could solve the decades-old mystery of what powers the gas giant's spectacular "hyper-auroras," according to a new study.

Auroras were first spotted on Jupiter in 1979, and astronomers have known since the 1990s that the planet's polar light shows are hundreds of times more powerful than Earth's auroras—with bands and curtains that can get as big as Earth itself.