A latest study has suggested that our planet is not the sole planet in the solar system with aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. It turned out that the Gas Giant Jupiter also possesses a similar phenomenon. The X-ray aurora on Jupiter is ‘hundreds of times more energetic’ and ‘eight times brighter’ than the phenomenon seen on Earth. Researchers said that they are, in fact, bigger than the Earth’s entire surface area.

According to researchers, this is for the first time that X-ray aurora of Jupiter has been studied, all because of a huge solar storm that struck the planet.

The study has been conducted on the basis of observations that researchers have made back in October 2011 when a huge solar storm, a coronal mass ejection, hit Jupiter. The researchers used that data and created a 3D spherical picture pinpointing the source of the X-ray activity.

Lead author of the new study, William Dunn, a PhD candidate at University College London Mullard Space Science Laboratory, said that in 2000, the most surprising findings among many others was a shinning ‘hot spot’ of X-rays in the aurora, rotating along with the planet.

Dunn added, “It pulsed with bursts of X-rays every 45 minutes, like a planetary lighthouse. When the solar storm arrived in 2011, we saw that the hot spot pulsed more rapidly, brightening every 26 minutes”.

He mentioned that they weren’t sure what was behind this increase in speed, however, as it fastened at the time of the storm, they thought that the pulsations were also linked to the solar wind, and the bright new aurora.

As per the researchers, the study has thrown light over the link between Jupiter’s magnetic field and solar wind. Northern Lights on Earth are also caused due the interaction of solar wind with the magnetosphere of the planet.