jupiter_south_pole edited
Edited Juno image of Jupiter's south pole. The magenta in the dark region represent x-rays emitted by Jupiter's aurora seen by the Chandra Space Telescope.
Image source: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2017/jupiter/
Original caption: Jupiter's intense northern and southern lights, or auroras, behave independently of each other according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray and ESA's XMM-Newton observatories.
Using XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observations from March 2007 and May and June 2016, a team of researchers produced maps of Jupiter's X-ray emissions and identified an X-ray hot spot at each pole. Each hot spot can cover an area equal to about half the surface of the Earth.
The team found that the hot spots had very different characteristics. The X-ray emission at Jupiter's south pole consistently pulsed every 11 minutes, but the X-rays seen from the north pole were erratic, increasing and decreasing in brightness — seemingly independent of the emission from the south pole.
This makes Jupiter particularly puzzling. X-ray auroras have never been detected from our Solar System's other gas giants, including Saturn. Jupiter is also unlike Earth, where the auroras on our planet's north and south poles generally mirror each other because the magnetic fields are similar.
To understand how Jupiter produces its X-ray auroras, the team of researchers plans to combine new and upcoming X-ray data from Chandra and XMM-Newton with information from NASA's Juno mission, which is currently in orbit around the planet. If scientists can connect the X-ray activity with physical changes observed simultaneously with Juno, they may be able to determine the process that generates the Jovian auroras and by association X-ray auroras at other planets.
jupiter_south_pole edited
Edited Juno image of Jupiter's south pole. The magenta in the dark region represent x-rays emitted by Jupiter's aurora seen by the Chandra Space Telescope.
Image source: chandra.harvard.edu/photo/2017/jupiter/
Original caption: Jupiter's intense northern and southern lights, or auroras, behave independently of each other according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-ray and ESA's XMM-Newton observatories.
Using XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray observations from March 2007 and May and June 2016, a team of researchers produced maps of Jupiter's X-ray emissions and identified an X-ray hot spot at each pole. Each hot spot can cover an area equal to about half the surface of the Earth.
The team found that the hot spots had very different characteristics. The X-ray emission at Jupiter's south pole consistently pulsed every 11 minutes, but the X-rays seen from the north pole were erratic, increasing and decreasing in brightness — seemingly independent of the emission from the south pole.
This makes Jupiter particularly puzzling. X-ray auroras have never been detected from our Solar System's other gas giants, including Saturn. Jupiter is also unlike Earth, where the auroras on our planet's north and south poles generally mirror each other because the magnetic fields are similar.
To understand how Jupiter produces its X-ray auroras, the team of researchers plans to combine new and upcoming X-ray data from Chandra and XMM-Newton with information from NASA's Juno mission, which is currently in orbit around the planet. If scientists can connect the X-ray activity with physical changes observed simultaneously with Juno, they may be able to determine the process that generates the Jovian auroras and by association X-ray auroras at other planets.