What can Jupiter’s auroras teach scientists about auroras on other planets? This is what a recent study published in Physical Review Letters hopes to address as a team of scientists investigated a new type of plasma wave with Jupiter’s auroras. This study has the potential to help scientists not only better understand auroras on other planets, and specifically exoplanets, but also the formation, evolution, and function of magnetic fields, as well.
For the study, the researchers used NASA’s Juno spacecraft, which is currently studying Jupiter, to obtain new measurements about Jupiter’s magnetic field at high latitudes. This was accomplished by Juno performing a first-time flyby of Jupiter’s north polar region. In the end, the researchers found that the plasma waves that comprise Jupiter’s auroras exhibit behavior unlike what is seen on Earth. For example, while the auroras on Earth form a donut-shape pattern around the poles, the auroras on Jupiter travel directly into the poles.
“While plasma can behave like a fluid, it is also influenced by its own magnetic fields and external fields,” said Dr. Robert Lysak, who is a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Minnesota and lead author on the study.
This study complements Juno’s incredible scientific contributions about Jupiter and the planet’s massive magnetosphere, which is so large it extends out to Saturn’s orbit, which averages 400 million miles depending on the orbital positions of each planet. Along with helping scientists better understand Earth’s own magnetic field, these findings could provide key insights into gas giant exoplanets, which comprised approximately one-third of confirmed exoplanets. Unlike Earth’s auroras, which are visible to the naked eye, Jupiter’s auroras require ultraviolet and infrared instruments to be observed.
How will Jupiter’s auroras help scientists better understand auroras and magnetic fields on other planets in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: Physical Review Letters, EurekAlert!
Featured Image: Hubble image of Jupiter's auroras. (Credit: NASA)