Scientists Solve Jupiter's 40-Year-Old X-Ray Blasts Mystery
The researchers also discovered X-ray flares were triggered by periodic vibrations of Jupiter¡¯s magnetic field lines.
Researchers from the University College London believe that they¡¯ve solved a 40-year-old mystery of our solar system¡¯s massive planet and its X-ray bursts.
NASA
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Jupiter -- the largest planet in our solar system, is popular for numerous reasons -- its massive gravitational pull, its moons and its gargantuan persona. However, for 40 years, scientists have also been taking a keen interest due to Jupiter as every few minutes it produces crazy amounts of X-rays.
Researchers have been clueless about why such X-rays are produced like clockwork, and now, researchers from the University College London believe that they¡¯ve got the answer.
Jupiter's mysterious X-ray blasts
These X-rays are visible as Jupiter¡¯s aurora similar to what Earth¡¯s northern regions experience -- a phenomenon known as aurora borealis or northern lights. And even on Jupiter, it occurs when charged particles interact with Jupiter¡¯s atmosphere.
However, much like the size of the planet, its auroras too are much more powerful, releasing hundreds of gigawatts of energy. To put things into perspective, a power station on Earth produces one gigawatt in a few days or so.
In the study, researchers observed the big glass giant through NASA¡¯s Juno satellite along with X-ray measurements within the European Space Agency¡¯s XMM-Newton observatory. The researchers also discovered X-ray flares were triggered by periodic vibrations of Jupiter¡¯s magnetic field lines.
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These vibrations resulted in the creation of plasma that sent heavy particles along the magnetic lines until they collided with the planet¡¯s atmosphere, releasing X-rays. This was observed at Jupiter¡¯s north and south poles with a new blast being sent every 27 minutes from the planet¡¯s moon into the universe.
NASA
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Dr William Dunn, from UCL¡¯s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, explains, ¡°We have seen Jupiter producing X-ray aurora for four decades, but we didn¡¯t know how this happened. We only knew they were produced when ions crashed into the planet¡¯s atmosphere. Now we know these ions are transported by plasma waves ¨C an explanation that has not been proposed before, even though a similar process produces Earth¡¯s own aurora. It could, therefore, be a universal phenomenon, present across many different environments in space.¡±
With the identification of the process, co-lead author, Zhonghua Yao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing says that it;s possible that something similar could be happening on other planets of our solar system too.
