NASA’s Juno spacecraft has uncovered some pretty impressive glimpses of the gas giant that taught scientists a thing or two about how the planet “works” according to BGR.
Jupiter’s storms stretch far deeper into the planet than it has been previously assumed. More than that, Jupiter’s lighting is really similar to the kinds of lightning that we see here on our beloved planet.
The latest data that has been gathered from Juno is shedding some light on yet another aspect of the planet that’s similar to Earth.
Similarities in the magnetic fields
In a brand new paper that’s been published in Nature Astronomy, scientists are revealing that Juno’s readings about Jupiter’s magnetic field are different from the observations that have been made by previous missions.
This is suggesting that the magnetic field of the planet is actually changing in small but significant ways, similar to what we see in Eart’s magnetic field.
NASA experts have compared the recent readings of Jupiter’s magnetic’s field with the data that has been gathered years before from missions including Pioneer and Voyage.
There is a lot of info gathered by Junpo about the planet’s magnetic field as it is in our days and the researchers have made a few notes.
“Finding something as minute as these changes in something so immense as Jupiter’s magnetic field was a challenge,” Juno scientist Kimee Moore stated.
He continued and said “Having a baseline of close-up observations over four decades long provided us with just enough data to confirm that Jupiter’s magnetic field does indeed change over time.”
Secular variation
These changes highlight the fact that Jupiter experiences something known as the secular variation phenomenon.
This happens on our planet as well, and here it’s attributed to the changes that are happening deep below the surface of Earth.
Gizmodo notes that “on Jupiter, it’s believed that intense winds far below the cloud tops are the engine that drives the changes.”
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