What causes X-ray auroras on Jupiter? Ions "surfing" electromagnetic waves! ⚛️ 🌊⁣ ⁣ Jupiter has the most powerful auroras in the solar system, and is the only one of the four giant planets with an aurora that has been found to emit X-rays. Planetary astronomers knew the auroras are triggered by ions crashing into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Now, they have learned how the ions responsible for the X-ray light show are able to get to the atmosphere.⁣ ⁣ Scientists combined measurements taken by our Juno spacecraft with data from the EuropeanSpaceAgency's XMM-Newton mission, to solve a 40-year-old mystery about the origins of Jupiter’s unusual X-ray auroras. For the first time, they have seen the entire mechanism at work: The electrically charged atoms, or ions, responsible for the X-rays are “surfing” electromagnetic waves in Jupiter’s magnetic field, down into the gas giant’s atmosphere.⁣ ⁣ The purple hues in this image show the X-ray emissions from Jupiter’s auroras, detected by our Chandra X...