NASA’s Juno mission, which in 2016 began an unprecedented exploration of the largest planet in our solar system, Jupiter, with its nearly 143,000 kilometers in diameter, has obtained surprising data. Close-ups of the poles of this gas giant show cyclones up to 1,400 kilometers in diameter and a magnetic field much stronger than scientists had predicted, which also causes spectacular auroras by interacting with the solar wind.
Juno’s mission lasts 20 months and, for the moment, the first data has left everyone perplexed. And the fact is, the spacecraft has fearlessly approached about 4,200 kilometers of the thick layer of clouds and thanks to the orbit of Jupiter it has surrounded the polar regions several times with the result that we can see today on the cover of the magazine Science in two studies.
The first study deals with the cloud layers of the gas giant. The images of the poles show chaotic storms with whitish oval structures. These snowy ovals are indeed huge, titanic cyclones. Their size is such that some can reach 1,400 kilometers in diameter. In addition, the information recorded in the deep atmosphere of the planet reveals strange structures that look like signs of accumulation of ammonia that emerges from the deep atmosphere, fanning the climate in unexpected ways.
Does Jupiter have a solid core?
The surprise of Jupiter’s strong gravitational field prompts scientists to rethink “the distribution of heavy elements within Jupiter, including the existence of a nucleus and its mass,” the authors explain. The measurements of the magnetic field far exceed the data that the theoretical models exposed, since it reaches 7,766 gauss, approximately 10 times more than the Earth’s magnetic field. Yes. A gigantic magnet.
The second study also provides new information about the auroras and the planet’s magnetosphere, because when Juno approached Jupiter for the first time, it discovered a shock arc deflecting the solar wind, but detected several shock arcs when it passed again in the following occasions. The explanation for this phenomenon, according to astronomers, is that the magnetosphere was in the process of expansion when the spacecraft made that first orbit.
Great auroras
“Energetic particle and plasma detectors recorded electrons precipitating in the polar regions, producing intense auroras, which we were able to observe simultaneously with ultraviolet and infrared imaging spectrographs,” the authors comment.
Many questions arise after these first data from the Juno mission, so we will have to wait – impatiently – for a new kind of information about the gas giant.
Referencia: Jupiter’s interior and deep atmosphere: The initial pole-to-pole passes with the Juno spacecraft. S. J. Bolton.A. Adriani. V. Adumitroaie. M. Allison. Science 26 May 2017:
Vol. 356, Issue 6340, pp. 821-825 DOI: 10.1126/science.aal2108
