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New
Terrestrial telescope observations show that the auroras of the Jupiter poles are
warm the atmosphere of the planet deeper than we previously thought –
and that it is a fast response to the solar wind.
"The
The impact of the solar wind at Jupiter is an extreme example of space weather, "said
James Sinclair of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which
directed the new research published April 8 in Nature Astronomy. "We see the
solar wind having a deeper effect than what we normally see ".
Lights
to the Earth's poles (called aurora borealis at the North Pole and aurora australis
at the South Pole) occur when energetic particles are blown by the sun
(the solar wind) interacts with the gases of the upper atmosphere and warms them up. the
the same thing is happening to Jupiter, but new observations show that heating goes twice
or three times deeper in its atmosphere than on Earth, at the bottom
level of the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, or stratosphere.
Comprehension
the constant interaction of the sun with the solar wind interacts with the planet
environments is the key to better understanding the very nature of how planets and
their atmospheres evolve.
"What
is surprising about the results is that we were able to associate for the first
time the solar wind variations and the response in the stratosphere – and
that the response to these variations is so rapid for such a large area ",
said Glenn Orton of JPL, co-author and member of the observation team.
In
a day of striking solar wind Jupiter, chemistry in its atmosphere
changed and its temperature increased, the team found. A captured infrared image
during their observation campaign in January, February and May 2017 clearly
shows hot spots near the poles, where are the aurora of Jupiter. The scientists
their findings on the observations made by the Subaru telescope, atop the summit
Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which is operated by the National Astronomical
Observatory of Japan.
the
Infrared cooled camera and Spectograph (COMICS) of the recorded telescope
thermal images – which capture areas of higher or lower temperatures – from
The stratosphere of Jupiter.
"Such
heating and chemical reactions can tell us something about the other planets with
harsh environments and even the primitive Earth, "said Yasumasa Kasaba of Tohoku
University, who also worked on the observation team.
Media contact
Gretchen McCartney
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California
818-393-6215
[email protected]
Dwayne Brown / JoAnna Wendel
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1003
[email protected] / [email protected]
2019-059
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