Juno mission observes 'sprites' dancing in Jupiter's atmosphere - CNN

They can brighten a larger area of the sky that can stretch as far as 200 miles across, and their shape looks more like a flat disk.

"On Earth, sprites and elves appear reddish in color due to their interaction with nitrogen in the upper atmosphere," said lead study author and Juno planetary scientist Rohini S.

"But on Jupiter, the upper atmosphere mostly consists of hydrogen, so they would likely appear either blue or pink."

The study published Tuesday in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

While scientists predicted Jupiter's turbulent atmosphere and massive storms could support the presence of these luminous events, they had never been observed.

But Juno's team also believes the instrument has captured evidence of sprites and elves in Jupiter's upper atmosphere.

And comparing sprites and elves from Jupiter with those here on Earth will help us better understand electrical activity in planetary atmospheres."