{"id":199517,"date":"2025-09-04T12:25:11","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:25:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199517\/"},"modified":"2025-09-04T12:25:11","modified_gmt":"2025-09-04T12:25:11","slug":"alien-aurora-scientists-spot-never-before-seen-plasma-waves-in-jupiters-polar-lights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/199517\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cAlien Aurora\u201d \u2013 Scientists Spot Never-Before-Seen Plasma Waves in Jupiter\u2019s Polar Lights"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"The<\/a>This image from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft in 2016 shows the north polar region of Jupiter. The JunoCam obtained this view about two hours before closest approach, when the spacecraft was 120,000 miles from Jupiter. Credit: NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/SwRI\/MSSS<\/p>\n

Research offers new insights into protecting Earth from harmful solar radiation.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A team at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has identified and studied a previously unknown type of plasma wave within Jupiter\u2019s aurora. The discovery provides new insight into auroral activity on other planets and, in turn, deepens our understanding of how Earth\u2019s magnetic field shields the planet from the sun\u2019s harmful radiation.<\/p>\n

The findings were published in Physical Review Letters, a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary, high-impact scientific journal.<\/p>\n

Data from Juno\u2019s polar orbit<\/p>\n

The finding comes from data collected by NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft during its historic low-altitude pass over Jupiter\u2019s north pole. This provided researchers with their first opportunity to apply advanced data analysis techniques to study the planet\u2019s northern polar regions in detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe James Webb Space Telescope has given us some infrared images of the aurora, but Juno is the first spacecraft in a polar orbit around Jupiter,\u201d said Ali Sulaiman, an assistant professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy.<\/p>\n

Plasma and aurora formation<\/p>\n

Magnetized planets such as Jupiter are surrounded by plasma, a superheated state of matter in which atoms split into electrons and ions. These charged particles are funneled into the planet\u2019s atmosphere, where they excite atmospheric gases and produce auroras. On Earth, this process creates the well-known green and blue lights of the northern and southern skies. In contrast, Jupiter\u2019s auroras cannot be seen without specialized instruments, as they appear only in ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths.<\/p>\n

The team\u2019s analysis revealed that due to the extremely low density of Jupiter\u2019s polar plasma combined with its powerful magnetic field, the plasma waves have a very low frequency, unlike anything previously observed around Earth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile plasma can behave like a fluid, it is also influenced by its own magnetic fields and external fields,\u201d said Robert Lysak, a professor in the University of Minnesota School of Physics and Astronomy and an expert on plasma dynamics.<\/p>\n

The study also sheds light on how Jupiter\u2019s complex magnetic field allows particles to flood into the polar cap, unlike Earth, where the aurora forms a donut pattern of auroral activity around the polar cap. The researchers hope to gather more data as Juno continues its mission to support further research into this new phenomenon.<\/p>\n

Reference: \u201cNew Plasma Regime in Jupiter\u2019s Auroral Zones\u201d by R.\u2009L. Lysak, A.\u2009H. Sulaiman, S.\u2009S. Elliott, W.\u2009S. Kurth and S.\u2009J. Bolton, 16 July 2025, Physical Review Letters.
DOI: 10.1103\/fn63-qmb7<\/a><\/p>\n

The research was funded by NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF).<\/p>\n

Never miss a breakthrough: Join the SciTechDaily newsletter.<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This image from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft in 2016 shows the north polar region of Jupiter. The JunoCam obtained…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":199518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[4514,12976,110545,3051,159,783,797,67,132,33305,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-199517","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-astronomy","9":"tag-jupiter","10":"tag-magnetosphere","11":"tag-plasma-physics","12":"tag-science","13":"tag-space","14":"tag-space-weather","15":"tag-united-states","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-university-of-minnesota","18":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115146019549550642","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}