Even giant Jupiter , with its whirling superstorms and volatile temperatures , has a soft side . A team of researcher latterly document stellar winds from the Sun , squishing the satellite ’s magnetosphere and kick upstairs the temperature in the satellite ’s aura by 300 degree Fahrenheit ( 150 grade Celsius ) .
The team ’s inquiry , publishedtoday in Geophysical Research Letters , is the first to document this phenomenon — a burst of solar energy hitting Jupiter . That say , the scientists believe the solar beatdown pass off a few metre each calendar month .
“ We found that Jupiter ’s upper aura respond globally — and quite dramatically — to concretion by the infringe solar wind , ” say James O’Donoghue , a planetary scientist at the University of Reading in the UK and lead author of the paper , in an electronic mail to Gizmodo . “ A fast solar wind stream slam dance into Jupiter ’s magnetosphere , which act like a elephantine charismatic house of cards pushing back against the solar wind , triggering vivid auroral natural action which dump heat into the atmosphere . ”
An image of Jupiter’s hot region.Image: O’Donoghue et al., Geophysical Research Letters 2025
The air around Jupiter ’s poles then expanded , producing a thermic wave across the planet about 12 time as long as Earth ’s diam . The team managed to distinguish the result using data from the Keck II telescope and mensuration taken by the Juno spacecraft above Jupiter , which happened to be “ in the right place at the right time ” to witness the result , O’Donoghue said .
Juno was within Jupiter ’s magnetosphere up until the not bad squishing ( as I ’m call it ) , at which item the compressed boundary suddenly put Juno outside of the magnetosphere . O’Donoghue sum that astronomers have only see standardised heating on Earth — though on a much small scale leaf .
“ This may also encounter at Saturn , Uranus , or Neptune , but we have n’t seen it yet , ” O’Donoghue said . “ It ’s a rare consequence , though … compaction like this might make Jupiter ( or any major planet ) about a couple of times a calendar month , depending on solar activity . ”
“ Our solar wind model correctly predicted when Jupiter ’s atmosphere would be disturb , ” say Mathew Owens , a investigator also at University of Reading and Colorado - generator of the paper , in a universityrelease . “ This facilitate us further understand the truth of our forecasting systems , which is essential for protect Earth from dangerous space weather . ”
The research suggest that planetary atmospheres — including that of our solar system ’s bombastic mankind — may be more susceptible to the conduct of host stars than previously make love .
In our solar organisation , outburst from the Sun could vary the atmospheric dynamics of the larger planets , engender winds that move energy throughout the worlds .
The employment is also a reminder of how dynamic our Sun is , and how many solar system mental process remain poorly understood . More observations , both of our host star and our solar system ’s planet , will help scientist understand not only our solar system as an ecosystem , but also how like — or unique — our system is from other star topology systems and exoplanets in the universe .
JupiterMagnetic FieldsSolar windthe Sun
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