We already knew that the Earth is not the only planet adorned with this beautiful atmospheric phenomenon that we know as aurora. In fact, if we were to assess who has the most spectacular auroras in our solar system, it would not be us, Earth, but Jupiter. It has the most powerful auroras in the solar system, permanently surrounding both poles of the world.
Now, more than four decades after their discovery, a team of astronomers has solved the mystery of what is causing the spectacular X-ray Jovian auroras. These auroras of lights are bright, brief, and occur regularly every few minutes. And yet they unleash hundreds of gigawatts of power, enough to power our entire civilization for a few moments. Amazing. Each of Jupiter’s X-ray auroras releases about one gigawatt (which could produce a power plant on Earth for several days).
What motivates these lavish auroras?
Jupiter’s auroras are much more powerful than ours and generate X-rays and visible light. But how is it possible for the gas giant to accelerate these charged particles to speeds high enough to produce X-rays?
“We have seen Jupiter producing X-ray auroras for four decades, but we did not know how it happened,” says William Dunn of University College London. “We only knew that they are produced when ions collide with the planet’s atmosphere.”
Solved the mystery
To discover the sources of these eruptions, the researchers used NASA’s Juno probe, which orbits Jupiter, to closely survey the giant planet’s magnetosphere on July 16 and 17, 2017. At the same time, they had the XMM telescope. -Newton of the European Space Agency that orbits the Earth, remotely analyzes the X-rays of Jupiter.
Thanks to these data, scientists have discovered that these X-ray flashes are caused by periodic vibrations in the lines of Jupiter’s magnetic field, which create plasma waves that allow the ions to “sail” into the atmosphere, where they collide at high temperatures. speed and precisely generate these X-rays.
“We now know that these ions are transported by plasma waves, an explanation that had not been proposed before, although a similar process produces the Earth’s own aurora. Therefore, it could be a universal phenomenon , present in many different environments in space, “the experts clarify.
Are similar processes likely to occur around Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and probably on exoplanets as well? So the authors believe. They could occur with different types of charged particles ‘surfing’ the waves ”, explains Zhonghua Yao, from the Chinese Academy of Sciences and co-author of the work published in the journal Science Advances.
Note: While a crucial auroral mechanism has been discovered, we have not yet managed to get the full picture of Jupiter’s incredible auroras.
Referencia: Z. Yao el al., “Revealing the source of Jupiter’s x-ray auroral flares,” Science Advances (2021). advances.sciencemag.org/lookup … .1126/sciadv.abf0851
