“精灵”在木星的大气中嬉戏

This illustration shows the lightning phenomenon known as a sprite and what a sprite could look like in Jupiter’s atmosphere. Named after a mischievous, quick-witted character in English folklore, sprites last for only a few milliseconds. They feature a central blob of light with long tendrils of light extending down toward the ground and upward. In Earth’s upper atmosphere, their interaction with nitrogen give sprites a reddish hue. At Jupiter, where the predominance of hydrogen in the upper atmosphere would likely give them a blue hue.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI

这幅插图展示了被称为精灵的闪电现象，以及精灵在木星大气中的样子。精灵的名字来源于英国民间传说中一个调皮伶俐的角色，它的寿命只有几毫秒。他们的特点是一个中心斑点的光与长长的卷须的光向下延伸到地面和向上。在地球的高层大气中，它们与氮的相互作用使精灵呈现出红色。在木星上，氢在上层大气中占主导地位，可能会使它们呈现出蓝色。

图片来源: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI