Details of Saturn’s northern lights revealed in new Hubble telescope photos

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Saturn’s flickering auroras would challenge even the most vivid northern and southern lights on Earth. 

Newly released photos taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2017, during and after Saturn’s summer solstice, show off the ringed planet’s northern lights shining in space. 

SEE ALSO: Watch as auroras dance with the International Space Station

The images, taken in ultraviolet light, are “the most comprehensive picture so far of Saturn’s northern aurora,” the European Space Agency (ESA) said in a statement. 

Saturn's auroras in ultraviolet

Saturn’s auroras in ultraviolet

Image: ESA/Hubble, NASA & L. Lamy

On Earth, the lights of the auroras are created when charged particles from the sun crash into our atmosphere, exciting neutral particles and causing a colorful glow.  Read more…

More about Space, Science, Space Photos, Auroras, and Northern Lights

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