The images, taken by Cassini while Io was eclipse behind Jupiter, show a pair of bright blue regions on opposite sides of Io's disk caused by emissions from sulfur dioxide molecules. Images from Cassini were also able to capture the interaction between Jupiter's magnetic field and Io. Some of those particles become ionized again, losing an electron after intercepting a photon, and get caught up in the solar wind. The nebula of particles extends for at least 22 million kilometers from Jupiter, according to Krimigis. As neutral atoms and molecules, they are no longer retained by the magnetosphere and zoom away at speeds of up to 70 kilometers per second. They remain there until they collide with an electron and become neutral. The particles in this nebula are ejected from Io's many volcanoes and, as charged particles, are caught up in Jupiter's magnetic field as part of a feature known as the Io torus. "What is really there is a Jupiter 'nebula' that is fed by the volcanoes of Io," said Stamatios Krimigis, head of the space department of Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Lab and principal investigator of Cassini's magnetospheric imaging instrument. The atoms of sulfur and oxygen, as well as molecules of sulfur dioxide, were detected by instruments on the Cassini spacecraft. The data come from months of joint study of the planet and its environment performed by the Galileo spacecraft, in orbit around Jupiter for over five years, and the Cassini spacecraft, which flew by Jupiter in late December en route to its ultimate destination, Saturn.Īmong the findings announced at the conference was the discovery of a tenuous cloud of atoms surrounding the planet for millions of kilometers that can trace their origins back to the volcanic moon Io. In a series of presentations this week at the American Geophysical Union spring meeting in Boston, space scientists have shown how data from the two spacecraft have revealed new features and explained old mysteries about Jupiter's magnetic field. Joint observations by the Galileo and Cassini spacecraft have helped scientists better understand the complex, powerful nature of Jupiter's magnetic field.Īn artist's concept of Cassini during the flyby of Jupiter. Spaceflight Now | Breaking News | Duo untangle mysteries of Jupiter's magnetic fieldĭuo untangle mysteries of Jupiter's magnetic fieldīOSTON, Mass.
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