A new mystery: In a first, Auroras are spotted on Neptune

THE VERMILION, AMETHYST and jade ribbons of the northern and southern lights are some of Earth's most distinctive features. But our planet doesn't have a monopoly on auroras. Scientists have spied them throughout the solar system, weaving through the skies of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and even on some of Jupiter's fiery and icy moons. Lights glow in the skies of Uranus, too. But auroras around our sun's most distant planet, Neptune, have long eluded astronomers. That has changed with the powerful infrared instruments aboard the James Webb Space Telescope.

- ROBIN GEORGE ANDREWS

In a study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature Astronomy, scientists reveal unique auroras that spill over either side of Neptune's equator, a contrast with the glowing gossamer seen arcing over other worlds' poles. Astronomers are thrilled to see the completion of an aurora-hunting quest decades in the making.

"Everyone is very excited to prove that it's there, just like we thought," said Rosie Johnson, a space physics researcher at Aberystwyth University in Wales who wasn't involved with the new study.