At first glance, JupiterJupiter and the Earth don’t have much in common. A gas giant planet composed mostly ofhydrogenhydrogen and D’heliumhelium on the one hand. A rocky planetrocky planet and size “human” with a atmosphereatmosphere dominated bynitrogennitrogenl’oxygenoxygen and water vapor on the other. However, researchers from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics of the Czech Academy of Sciences have just put in lightlight a commonality that few of us would have suspected.
For this, they took advantage of a particular characteristic of the Juno probe. Its ability to measure impulses radioradio generated by electricity in Jupiter’s atmosphere with a resolutionresolution extremely fine. Of the order of an eighth of a millisecond. The data returned by the mission made it possible to show that in the atmosphere of the giant planetgiant planetthe lightninglightning propagates in pulses, at a rate comparable to that of lightninglightning that form in the storm clouds of our Earth. Like a breathless hiker climbing a mountain and stopping after each step to catch his breath, say the researchers.
A surprising discovery that could have implications for the search for extraterrestrial life. Because work has shown that on Earth, lightning could have played a role in the formation of the basic elements of life. And if it behaves the same on other planets, it could have sown the seeds of life there too!
