Thomas Thomopoulos / NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS
Jupiter image obtained by NASA’s probe Juno in February 2022
Massive solar event compressed the magnetic shield of the planet. With the help of data from telescopes and spaceships, it was possible to observe the phenomenon – which raises many questions about the gaseous planets.
A solar storm that took place in 2017 created an abnormally hot region in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, which extends by half the circumference of the planet and reaches temperatures above 500 ° (The normal atmosphere is 350ºC).
The phenomenon was observed by a team from the University of Reading, through the Keck telescope with NASA Juno spacecraft data and solar wind modeling
Now a group of researchers shows that this type of phenomenon usually reaches the planet every 2 or 3 months. O, published this Thursday in Geophysical Research Letters, It proves that, after all, Jupiter’s bubble is not as hard as we thought.
“The solar wind crushed Jupiter’s magnetic shield like a Squash ball giant. This created a super hot region that extends in half of the planet. Jupiter’s diameter is 11 times larger than that of Earth, which means that this heated region is huge, ”explains the main author, James O’Donoghue, to.
“We studied Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus with more and more detail in the last decade. These giant planets They are not as resistant to the influence of the sun as we thought “They are vulnerable, like the earth,” he continues.
“Jupiter acts as a laboratory, allowing us to study how the sun affects planets in general. When we look at what happens there, we can predict and better understand the effects of solar storms that can disturb GPS, communications and electrical networks on Earth.”
This means, therefore, that even the planets we considered most resistant (in the case of Jupiter, due to its rapid rotation) are after all vulnerable to solar storms.
According to Scitechdaily, solar explosions can (much) change the dynamics of the upper atmosphere of the great planets. Can generate global winds that lead to energy distribution by the planet.
Coauthor Mathew Owens enhances the importance of the study. “Our solar wind model predicted correctly when the atmosphere of Jupiter would be disturbed. This helps us better understand the accuracy of our forecast systems, which is essential for Protect Terra of dangerous spatial weather conditions ”.
