Scientists have revealed the secret of protecting Jupiter from the solar wind
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- Scientists have revealed the secret of protecting Jupiter from the solar wind
Scientists have discovered that Jupiter uses a more sophisticated solar wind protection system than Earth. The data from the Juno spacecraft showed that additional plasma regions operate before the main shock wave of the planet, and the plasma waves themselves have several frequencies. About how Jupiter resists the flow of particles from the Sun, in the material "Izvestia".
How Jupiter protects itself from the solar wind
The shock wave is the invisible boundary between the solar wind and the planet's magnetic field. It becomes the first line of defense against a stream of energetic particles that moves away from the Sun at supersonic speed.
On Earth, in this area, the solar wind slows down, heats up, and then deflects around the planet. Due to this, the particle stream does not reach the atmosphere directly.
Researchers from the University of Iowa studied data on Jupiter's head shock wave obtained by the Juno spacecraft. The work was published in the journal Nature Communications (NC). According to the scientists, the results showed significant differences between the defense mechanisms of Jupiter and Earth.
Why does Jupiter need multiple frequencies of plasma waves
The researchers found that the shock wave of Jupiter contains plasma waves of several frequencies at once. Scientists call these additional frequencies harmonics.
The more frequencies involved in the operation of plasma waves, the more effectively they absorb the effects of the solar wind. Due to this, more particles of the stream can heat up and slow down even before the solar wind passes through the main shock wave.
On Earth, the situation is simpler: plasma waves in the shock wave region mainly use a single frequency, which is sufficient to counteract the solar wind.
Jayasri Joseph, author of the study
Jupiter has found its own way to resist the solar wind by using stronger plasma waves with a richer harmonic structure. This is important because with multiple frequencies, you can heat up more particles in the solar wind and slow them down.
What are satellite shock waves?
Another difference between Jupiter and Earth turned out to be additional areas, which researchers call shockwaves (shocklets). They are located in front of the main shock wave of the planet and interact with the solar wind, gradually slowing it down.
Thus, the particle flow meets not one boundary, but a sequence of regions that help Jupiter cope with the effects of the solar wind. Scientists emphasize that the Earth does not have such an additional system.
Bill Kurtz, researcher at the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Iowa and co-author of the study
The Earth does not need to take these additional steps to deal with the solar wind, because its effects are not as powerful.
The data obtained suggest a multi-level protection system for Jupiter: first, the solar wind interacts with satellite shock waves, and then reaches the main shock wave, where it continues to slow down and heat up.
Why Jupiter helps to study the explosions of stars
Researchers believe that studying the shock wave of Jupiter can help to better understand the processes occurring in much more powerful cosmic shock waves. They occur, in particular, around supernova remnants, objects associated with the final stages of stellar life.
Jayasri Joseph
Since even more powerful shock waves occur around astrophysical objects such as supernova remnants, the Jupiter shock wave is a nearby natural laboratory for studying and understanding how nature converts a huge amount of energy flow into heat and energetic particles.
The data for the study was received by the Juno spacecraft in December 2024. The spacecraft has been orbiting Jupiter since July 2016. The Juno Waves device, developed and created by physicists at the University of Iowa, was used to collect information.
The researchers note that before the Juno mission, spacecraft had already detected the presence of shock waves near the outer planets, but could not measure the complex structure of plasma waves in this area in sufficient detail.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
