Question: According to the recent findings NASA’s Juno mission detected Sprites and ‘Elves in Jupiter’s Atmosphere. Consider the following statements-
i. Sprites and Elves occur above intense thunderstorms in upper atmosphere of the Earth.
ii. It represents unpredictable and extremely brief flashes of light.
iii. This phenomenon is formally known as transient luminous events, or TLE’s.
iv. Named after a mischievous, quick-witted character in English folklore
Which of the above given statement/statements is/are correct?
Select the correct answer from the following code-
a) i
b) i & ii
c) iii & iv
d) I ,ii, iii & iv
Answer: (d)
Related Facts:
- October 2020; Scientists have now also detected sprites and elves in the upper atmosphere of the Jupiter, solar system’s largest planet.
- It should be known that sprites and elves, formally known as transient luminous events, or TLE’s, occur above intense thunderstorms in upper atmosphere of the Earth.
- Now scientists from American space agency NASA informed that during the observation of data obtained from Juno mission they found it also in Jupiter’s upper atmosphere.
- The findings were published on Oct. 27, 2020, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
- It is the first time these bright, unpredictable and extremely brief flashes of light (sprites and elves) have been observed on another world.
- Earlier Scientists only predicted these bright, superfast flashes of light should also be present in Jupiter’s immense roiling atmosphere, but their existence remained theoretical.
- It is only in the summer of 2019, that researchers working with data from Juno’s ultraviolet spectrograph instrument (UVS) discovered this kind of atmospheric activity on Jupiter.
- They observed through this UVS data something unexpected: a bright, narrow streak of ultraviolet emission that disappeared in a flash.
- UVS was designed to characterize Jupiter’s beautiful northern and southern lights, in Jovian atmosphere.
- Researchers say that they discovered UVS images that not only showed Jovian aurora, but also a bright flash of UV light in the area where it wasn’t supposed to be.
- Team of researchers when looked again and again into it to finally conclude that Juno’s UVS may have detected a TLE on Jupiter.
- Sprites and Elves:
- Sprites are transient luminous events triggered by lightning discharges from thunderstorms.
- Named after a mischievous, quick-witted character in English folklore.
- On Earth, they occur up to 60 miles (97 kilometers) above intense, towering thunderstorms and brighten a region of the sky tens of miles across,.
- They appear and last only a few milliseconds (a fraction of the time it takes humans blink an eye).
- Almost resembling a jellyfish, sprites feature a central blob of light (on Earth, it’s 15 to 30 miles, or 24 to 48 kilometers, across), with long tendrils extending both down toward the ground and upward.
- Elves (short for Emission of Light and Very Low Frequency perturbations due to Electromagnetic Pulse Sources) appear as a flattened disk glowing in Earth’s upper atmosphere. They, too, brighten the sky for mere milliseconds but can grow larger than sprites – up to 200 miles (320 kilometers) across on Earth.
- Their colors are distinctive as well. “On Earth, sprites and elves appear reddish in color due to their interaction with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere.
- On Jupiter, it differs as the upper atmosphere here mostly consists of hydrogen, so they would likely appear either blue or pink.
- Location on Jupiter
- The occurrence of sprites and elves at Jupiter was predicted by several previously published studies.
- Synching with these predictions, the 11 large-scale bright events Juno’s UVS instrument has detected occurred in a region where lightning thunderstorms are known to form.
- Juno scientists could also rule out that these were simply mega-bolts of lightning because they were found about 186 miles (300 kilometers) above the altitude where the majority of Jupiter’s lightning forms – its water-cloud layer.
- And UVS recorded that the spectra of the bright flashes were dominated by hydrogen emissions.
- Juno around the Jupiter:-
- A rotating, solar-powered spacecraft, Juno, arrived at Jupiter in 2016 after making a five-year journey.
- Juno Since then, has made 29 science flybys of the gas giant, each orbit taking 53 days.
- Scientists are working hard to look for more and more signs of elves and sprites every time Juno does a flyby near the Jupiter.
- Scientists say, now that we know what we are looking for, it will be easier to find them at Jupiter and on other planets.
- Scientists are now quite optimistic that by comparing sprites and elves from Jupiter with those here on Earth will help us better understand electrical activity in planetary atmospheres.
By – Rajesh Tripathi