Plan to someday. Anyway, it turns out the Jupiter has its own version of the light show.
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While these auroras were very strong in X-ray, it’s possible they could also be seen in visible light under the right conditions. This new study found that the interaction at the boundary triggers the X-rays in Jupiter’s auroras. Now that is impressive. A paper in the March 22nd, 2016 issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research gave the details.
They scheduled an observation window using NASA’s Chandra X-ray telescope.
Solar Storms Ignite X-ray “Northern Lights” on Jupiter http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/solar-storms-ignite-xray-northern-lights-on-jupiter.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=govdelivery 03/22/2016 01:52 PM EDT Solar storms are triggering X-ray auroras on Jupiter that are about eight times brighter than normal over a large area of the planet and hundreds of times more energetic than Earths northern lights, according to a new study using data from NASAs Chandra X-ray Observatory. By studying how the aurora changes, we can discover more about the region of space controlled by Jupiter’s magnetic field, and if or how this is influenced by the Sun. They knew much of it was the result of carbon, oxygen and sulphur (US English: sulfur) ions being accelerated to almost the speed of light before hitting Jupiter’s atmosphere. These composite images show Jupiter and its aurora during and after a CME’s arrival at Jupiter in October 2011.
“The sun is constantly pouring out charged particles – the solar wind”, explains lead author Will Dunn, a doctoral student in planetary science at the University College London, in a Skype interview with The Christian Science Monitor. It also emits bursts of particles called coronal mass ejections (CMEs).
For the first time ever, researchers have studied Jupiter’s X-ray aurora at the same time that a massive storm from the sun arrived at the planet.
Jupiter’s auroras aren’t just sparked by the sun, however. This has wide-ranging implications for the study of exoplanets, where the degree of this natural magnetic protection has a big impact on habitability. The goal is to analyze the interaction of the two powerful structures and its effect on the giant planet. On Earth, this means aurorae are best seen from the Northern Hemisphere in areas like Siberia, Iceland, Alaska, and Canada.
“We have a vague idea of what’s going on between the Earth’s magnetic field and the solar wind, but we don’t really understand what happens elsewhere in the Solar System”, he explained.
Space weather – the way in which a planet’s atmosphere, magnetosphere, and solar radiation all interact – can create dazzling aurora displays even while threatening satellite communication and other orbiting technology.
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NASA’s Juno mission arrives at Jupiter later this year and astronomers can’t wait to get their hands on more data that will let them map the planet’s magnetic field and observe more aurora, among other things.
