An aurora as we see it on Jupiter or on the Earth is caused by charged particles, electrons, or protons crashing into the atmosphere.
When those electrons come bombarding in, they excite the electrons inside the hydrogen atom,
and UV light comes pouring out and that's what produces most of the aurora on Jupiter.
This is very similar to the Northern Lights of the Earth; it's the same physical process.
Deep inside the planet the hydrogen has been compressed so much that it loses its electrons and you have a conducting layer
so people call this metallic hydrogen...
And it's in that conducting shell that we think Jupiter generates its magnetic field...
Now, one of the interesting things is that it's carrying with it electrons and protons that are spiraling round as they crash into the atmosphere
at the north and at the south.
And when they do that, they create what we call an Aurora because they're generating light
It's quite a spectacular sight if you can see this Aurora going on.
Its so bright that you don't have to be on the surface of the planet where this is happening you can look at it from the outside
And Juno is equipped to look at the Aurora on the North and South poles of Jupiter and to study it in a way that has never been possible before.