{"id":2204,"date":"2021-01-14T10:32:59","date_gmt":"2021-01-14T09:32:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/?p=2204"},"modified":"2021-10-18T13:31:42","modified_gmt":"2021-10-18T12:31:42","slug":"johns-hopkins-apl-scientists-help-solve-the-40%e2%80%91year-mystery-of-jupiters-x-ray-aurora","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/archives\/2204","title":{"rendered":"Johns Hopkins APL Scientists Help Solve the 40\u2011Year Mystery of Jupiter\u2019s X-ray Aurora"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Study Solves Jupiter X-ray Aurora Mystery\" width=\"760\" height=\"428\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/BCDx__b0Bjc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Jupiter\u2019s mysterious X-ray auroras have been explained, ending a 40-year quest for an answer. For the first time, astronomers have seen the way Jupiter\u2019s magnetic field is compressed, which heats the particles and directs them along the magnetic field lines down into the atmosphere of Jupiter, sparking the X-ray aurora. The connection was made by combining in situ data from NASA\u2019s Juno mission with X-ray observations from ESA\u2019s XMM-Newton.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Credit: ESA\/NASA\/Yao\/Dunn<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jhuapl.edu\/PressRelease\/210709-study-solves-Jupiter-xray-aurora-mystery\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have helped solve a decades-old mystery as to how Jupiter produces a spectacular burst of X-rays every few minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The X-rays are part of Jupiter\u2019s aurora \u2014 bursts of visible and invisible light that occur when charged particles interact with the planet\u2019s atmosphere. A similar phenomenon occurs on Earth, creating the northern lights, but Jupiter\u2019s is much more powerful, releasing hundreds of gigawatts of energy, enough to briefly power all of human civilization. Jupiter\u2019s X-ray aurora alone releases about a gigawatt, equivalent to what one power station might produce over a period of days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a new study, published in Science Advances, researchers combined close-up observations of Jupiter\u2019s environment by NASA\u2019s Jupiter-orbiting satellite Juno with simultaneous X-ray measurements from the European Space Agency\u2019s (ESA) XMM-Newton observatory, which orbits Earth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research team, led by University College London and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, discovered that X-ray flares were triggered by periodic vibrations of Jupiter\u2019s magnetic field lines. These vibrations create waves of plasma (ionized gas) that send heavy ion particles \u201csurfing\u201d along magnetic field lines until they smash into the planet\u2019s atmosphere, releasing energy in the form of X-rays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Critical measurements of the local environment came from APL\u2019s Jupiter Energetic particle Detector Instrument (JEDI) onboard Juno. Led by APL space physicist Barry Mauk, JEDI was built to measure the energetic ions and electrons that fill Jupiter\u2019s system. Scientists compared JEDI measurements of the energetic ions and pulsations in the local plasma wave environment to pulsating X-ray emissions observed from XMM-Newton. There was a clear link between the energetic ions and emissions \u2014 leading researchers to the discovery that these were indeed the ions precipitating into Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere creating the X-rays, and addressing an important 40-year mystery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cJovian X-ray auroras have been studied for decades with remote Earth-orbiting X-ray observatories such as XMM-Newton, but their origins have remained enigmatic,\u201d said George Clark, a space physicist at APL and a co-author of the study. \u201cWe know that Jupiter is the solar system\u2019s greatest particle accelerator, so it had been thought that some of the accelerated particles from Jupiter\u2019s vast space environment find their way into its upper atmosphere and collide with neutral material to generate X-rays. But it has never been proven until now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>X-ray auroras occur at Jupiter\u2019s north and south poles, often with clockwork regularity \u2014 during this observation, Jupiter was producing bursts of X-rays every 27 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The charged ion particles that hit the atmosphere originate from volcanic gas pouring into space from giant volcanoes on Jupiter\u2019s moon, Io.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This gas becomes ionized (its atoms are stripped free of electrons) due to collisions in Jupiter\u2019s immediate environment, forming a donut of plasma that encircles the planet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this study, researchers analyzed observations of Jupiter and its surrounding environment carried out continuously over a 26-hour period by the Juno and XMM-Newton spacecraft. They found a clear correlation between waves in the plasma detected by Juno and X-ray auroral flares at Jupiter\u2019s north pole recorded by XMM-Newton. They then used computer modeling to confirm that the waves would drive the heavy particles toward Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Why the magnetic field lines vibrate periodically is unclear, but the vibration may result from interactions with the solar wind or from high-speed plasma flows within Jupiter\u2019s magnetosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Answering that question is one of the goals of a new mission concept developed by APL and recently presented at NASA\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hou.usra.edu\/meetings\/helio2050\/program\/helio2050_poster_abstracts.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Heliophysics 2050 Workshop<\/a>. Dubbed Jupiter\u2019s Global Magnetic Environment and Radiation Observatory (JUGGERNOT), the proposal outlines a mission to send a spacecraft to Jupiter\u2019s intense radiation belts. The craft would carry the first dedicated X-ray imager to the planet, potentially elucidating the links between energetic charged particles and the resulting X-ray emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cThe results of the present study raise new and exciting questions about Jovian X-ray emissions, which may hold the key to understanding planetary magnetospheres,\u201d Clark said. \u201cJUGGERNOT would help us answer those questions, expanding the frontiers of heliophysics, with significant implications for planetary science and astrophysics as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jupiter\u2019s magnetic field is extremely strong \u2014 about 20,000&nbsp;times as strong as Earth\u2019s \u2014 and therefore its magnetosphere, the area controlled by this magnetic field, is extremely large. If it was visible in the night sky, it would cover a region several times the size of our moon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The work was supported by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the UK\u2019s Science and Technology Facilities Council, Royal Society, and Natural Environment Research Council, as well as ESA and NASA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Media contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Michael Buckley, 240-228-7536,&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:Michael.Buckley@jhuapl.edu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Michael.Buckley@jhuapl.edu<\/a><br>Mark Greaves, UCL Media Relations, +44-(0)7990-675947,&nbsp;<a href=\"mailto:m.greaves@ucl.ac.uk\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">m.greaves@ucl.ac.uk<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>The Applied Physics Laboratory, a not-for-profit division of The Johns Hopkins University, meets critical national challenges through the innovative application of science and technology. For more information, visit&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.jhuapl.edu\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>www.jhuapl.edu<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Jupiter\u2019s mysterious X-ray auroras have been explained, ending a 40-year quest for an answer. For the first time, astronomers have seen the way Jupiter\u2019s magnetic &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2205,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,8],"tags":[181,45,180,171,174,178,177,173,167,172,170,175,121,176,169,168,179],"class_list":["post-2204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sri","category-third-party-essay","tag-apl","tag-applied-science","tag-dunn","tag-esa","tag-jedi","tag-johnhopkinsuniversity","tag-juggernot","tag-juno","tag-jupiter","tag-magravs","tag-nasa","tag-particles","tag-physics","tag-plasma","tag-solarsystem","tag-x-ray","tag-yao","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2204"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2322,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2204\/revisions\/2322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/synergyresearchinstitute.com\/SRI_wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}