Astronomers Detect Entirely New Type of Plasma Wave Above Jupiter’s North Pole

Since entering Jupiter’s orbit in 20 2016, NASA Juno spacecraft Has been hard work Uncover many mysteries The largest planet in our solar system. And its latest discovery can still be the most interesting: a whole new type of plasma wave to Jupiter’s poles.

In a research paper published on Wednesday The letter of physical reviewAstronomers describe an unusual pattern of plasma waves in Jupiter’s magnetic region – a magnetic “bubble” protects the planet from external radiation. Jupiter’s exceptional powerful magnetic field seems to be forcing two very different types of plasmas to make a unique flow of particles and atoms charged in its polar region.

Plasma is the main force of Jupiter’s turbulent environment. As a result, researchers believe that new observations are not only the incidence of Jupiter’s weather, but also the magnetic features of the remote exoplanets will further our understanding.

For study, researchers analyzed the behavior of plasma waves with highly magnetic, low density plasma in Jupiter’s magnetic places. The team is a collaboration between researchers at the University of Minnesota, the University of Iowa and the South -West Research Institute in Texas, Alfvan found an unexpected rock between the waves and the Langmua waves, which reflect the movement of the plasma atoms and the movement of electrons in the plasma respectively.

The electrons are much lighter than the charge -atom, which means, usually, two waves spread to very different frequencies – which was not clearly in Jupiter’s magnetic space, researchers requested to look closely. The next investigation unveiled the kind of plasma movement that has not been seen before Jupiter’s poles.

“Observed Plasma features are truly unusual, before our solar system found anywhere else,” Technical University planet scientist John Leaf Georgennsen in Denmark who was not involved in the new job, he said New scientistThe

Opposite the Auroras of the earth due to solar storms, Jupiter’s Auroras – Frisky, a barrage of superfast particles More powerful a few hundred times Earth’s Auroras – sometimes emerge as its strongest magnetic field products. According to the authors of the study, to achieve better understanding of how this national event can work for future missions in explorations.

“Although such a situation does not happen [on] The earth, it is possible that they are applied to the polar regions of other giant planets and possiblely applied to the magnetic explorations or stars, “astronomers wrote on paper.

“Jupiter is the rooseta stone in our solar system,” said Scott Bolton, the chief investigator of NASA Juno. Pages of contacts For spacecraft. “Juno is going there as our envoy – to explain what Jupiter will say.”

Initially, NASA hoped that Juno’s mission would end in 2017, when they deliberately drive the spacecraft into Jupiter’s environment, a decision that adheres to NASA planet protection requirements. However Juno’s aircraft was developed over time, and NASA reached the conclusion that spacecraft There is no more threat to Jupiter’s moon. As a result, the company has allowed extension on the mission.

It is said that scientists believe that by September of this year, Juno’s orbit will naturally decrease and it will rise to Jupiter’s atmosphere. However, it does not end the exploration of Jupiter of humanity in any way; Europa Jupiter’s Moon is ready to reach Europe in 2030 (last time we verified, It has made some sights near Mars) Of course, even after consuming June Juno, scientists still keep a lot of invaluable data from the spacecraft that they will be cautiously analyzing for the next few years.