NASA Chandra / Juno Wolk / Dunn
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Aurora sightings on the planet Jupiter. Similar activity is possible on other planets and exoplanets, with different types of charged particles ‘surfing’ on waves of planetary plasma.
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Nationalgeographic.co.id—Aurora, the shimmering light show known as the northern or southern lights on Earth, is also seen in Jupiter. These bursts of light looked like dance lights. These events occur when energetic particles from the Sun or other celestial bodies strike a planet’s magnetosphere and flow down magnetic field lines to collide with molecules in its atmosphere. The magnetosphere is the area controlled by the magnetic field of the planet in question.
magnetic field Jupiter very powerful, which is about 20,000 times stronger than Earth. Therefore, the magnetosphere is also very large.
If the magnetosphere Jupiter visible in the night sky, it would cover an area several times the size of the Moon, our Earth’s satellite. Therefore, aurora Jupiter far more powerful than Earth, releasing hundreds of gigawatts of force, enough to briefly empower all human civilizations.
Aurora Jupiter also emits unusual X-ray flares, which come from electrically charged sulfur and oxygen ions spewed out by Io, the volcanic moon Jupiter. Aurora X-ray Jupiter each releases about one gigawatt, the power that a single power plant on Earth might generate over several days. Aurora X-ray Jupiter it often ticks like clockwork, in regular beats of several tens of minutes over tens of hours.
The specific mechanism that drives these flares has long been mystery. “For more than 40 years, we have been confused about what can cause aurora X-ray Jupiter spectacular,” Zhonghua Yao, a planetary scientist at the Key Laboratory of Earth and Planetary Physics in Beijing, told Space.com.
Yao is one of the researchers who wrote a recent study report on aurora Jupiter. According to a new study published online in the journal Science Advances On July 9, 2021, a mysterious X-ray flare from aurora Jupiter suggesting that the giant planet’s “northern lights” may have unexpected similarities to those on Earth.
To uncover the source of this flare, the researchers used NASA’s Juno rover, which orbits Jupiter, to examine the giant planet’s magnetosphere up close on July 16 and July 17 2017. At the same time, they also used the Agency’s XMM-Newton telescope. space Europe (ESA), orbiting Earth, to analyze X-rays from Jupiter remotely.
Also Read: The Seven Best Places In The World To See The Magnificence Of The Aurora
NASA
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The clouds circle around Jupiter’s south pole right on the line that separates day and night.
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The scientists found that the X-ray flare from Jupiter appeared to be triggered by the regular vibrations of the planet’s magnetic field lines. These vibrations produce planetary-scale plasma waves, clouds of electrically charged particles, which send heavy ions to “surf” along magnetic field lines until they hit the planet’s atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of X-rays.
Similar plasma waves help produce auroras on Earth. Thus, even though Jupiter is much larger than Earth in every respect—such as having a larger mass and diameter, more energy, a stronger magnetic field, and a faster rotation—”the process seems to be responsible for Jupiter’s ionic auroras and Earth’s ionic auroras are the same,” said William Dunn, an astrophysicist at University College London, who was involved in the new study.
“This hints at a potentially universal process for the space environment,” Dunn said Space.com.
JAXA
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Aurora on Planet Jupiter. Auroras, shimmering light shows known as the northern or southern lights on Earth, are also visible on Jupiter. These bursts of light looked like dance lights.
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It remains unclear why Jupiter’s magnetic field lines vibrate regularly. It could be due to interactions with the solar wind, or by high-speed plasma flows within Jupiter’s magnetosphere, the researchers said.
The electrically charged particles the researchers found hurtling toward Jupiter’s poles may not appear to have enough energy to produce X-ray aurorae, “so they need to experience some extra acceleration on the way,” Yao said. “What is the extra acceleration process?”
Scientists suggest that the large voltages that may exist above Jupiter’s atmosphere could accelerate these electrically charged particles “towards the atmosphere with colossal energy,” Dunn said. “This may play a key role.”
Going forward, Yao suggested investigating other planets to see if plasma waves could help propel the aurora there as well. Similar activity is possible around Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and possibly exoplanets as well, with different types of charged particles “surfing” in the waves, he said.
Also Read: Scientists: Jupiter’s satellites are the best locations for finding life in the solar system
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