Jupiter's Duo Auroras

     Juno - a spacecraft specially designed and launched to study Jupiter. Since its arrival it has been exploring the planet surface and its giant storms. The great red spot which has numerous giant storms prevailing since years. Jupiter has beautiful auroras in the atmosphere, we can see through the image taken and sent by NASA's Juno Spacecraft. It is currently active on Jupiter.

     This Image shows the String of Pearls one of the eight massive rotating storms at 40 degrees south latitude on the gas giant planet.

(Source : Juno updates at https://www.nasa.gov).

Image Details:

Image taken by  - Juno Spacecraft

Date  -  24 October 2017

Time  -  2:11 p.m 

During - Ninth Flyby of Jupiter

Angle - 52.96 degrees

Distance - 33,115 kilometers

Resolution  -  22.3 kilometers / pixel

Image by Scientists  -  Gerald Eichstadt and Sean Doran

(Data Source : https://www.nasa.gov )

Jupiter's Independently Pulsating X-Ray Auroras:

    

      Jupiter's intense northern and southern lights of auroras, behave independently of each other according to a new study using NASA's Chandra X-Ray Observatory and ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory. These observation was made from March 2007 and May & June 2016. A team of researchers produced a map of Jupiter's X-Ray emissions and identified X-Ray hotspot at each pole. Each hotspot can cover an area equal to the half the surface of the earth.

     The team founded that the hotspots 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 revealing the independent of the emission from the south pole of the Jupiter.

     Scientists planned for a combine study of Jupiter's Auroras by comparing the X-Ray emission map from XMM-Newtons Observatory and Juno Spacecraft (currently active). The Auroras in Jupiter is not similar to our Earth. Because, auroras observed in north and south pole of Earth is like mirror due to the similar magnetic fields.

Scientific Paper on Jupiter's Duo Auroras:

     After deep observation, researchers published a paper describing these results on 30th October issue of Nature Astronomy, led by William Dunn of the University College of London. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama manages the Chandra program for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

Credits: Image - X-Ray NASA/CXC/UCL/W.Dunn et al  | Text - Lee Mohon

Published on : 7 November 2017 at NASA Webpage

More Information:

• Chandra X-Ray Observatory
• Paper on Jupiter's Duo Auroras
• ESA's XMM-Newton Observatory