'Alien auroras' on Jupiter reveal a new kind of plasma wave, scientists say

The shimmering northern lights that streak across Alaska's skies have wilder cousins on Jupiter — they're bigger, stranger, and now tied to a discovery helping scientists better understand space weather.

These "alien auroras" on our solar system's largest planet have revealed a previously unknown type of plasma wave, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The finding could help scientists better understand auroras on other worlds and how magnetic fields shield planets, including Earth, from harmful radiation streaming from their stars.

Auroras occur when streams of charged particles, guided by a planet's magnetic field, crash into a planet's atmosphere. On Earth, the result is the colorful northern and southern lights, visible in green and blu