Posted on 04/09/2019 2:05:15 PM PDT by BenLurkin
Auroras at Earth's poles (known as the aurora borealis at the North Pole and aurora australis at the South Pole) occur when the energetic particles blown out from the sun (the solar wind) interact with and heat up the gases in the upper atmosphere. The same thing happens at Jupiter, but the new observations show the heating goes two or three times deeper down into its atmosphere than on Earth, into the lower level of Jupiter's upper atmosphere, or stratosphere.
Understanding how the sun's constant outpouring of solar wind interacts with planetary environments is key to better understanding the very nature of how planets and their atmospheres evolve.
Within a day of the solar wind hitting Jupiter, the chemistry in its atmosphere changed and its temperature rose, the team found. An infrared image captured during their observing campaign in January, February and May of 2017 clearly shows hot spots near the poles, where Jupiter's auroras are. The scientists based their findings on observations by the Subaru Telescope, atop the summit of Mauna Kea in Hawaii, which is operated by the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.
The telescope's Cooled Mid-Infrared Camera and Spectograph (COMICS) recorded thermal imageswhich capture areas of higher or lower temperaturesof Jupiter's stratosphere.
"Such heating and chemical reactions may tell us something about other planets with harsh environments, and even early Earth," said Yasumasa Kasaba of Tohoku University, who also worked on the observing team.
(Excerpt) Read more at phys.org ...
Let’s send the UN and global warming scientists to Jupiter. They need help right away.
Let’s send the UN and global warming scientists to Jupiter. They need help right away.
This is MMGW Blasphemy! The sun has nothing to do with the heating of celestial bodies in our solar system!
Time to tax the Jupitarians.
My fickle friend...the solar wind.
Can we aim COMICS at the earth’s atmosphere?
Oh, wait. Congress is already full of COMICS.
Jupitarians? Jovians, no?
Always liked the Jovians. They are such happy people.
let’s send Gore and all his fellow
“global warming” travelers to Jupiter!
Nah, the Sun doesn’t affect climate. Must be SUV’s under those clouds. If only the Jovians had signed the Paris Accords . . .
Cher said she was going to Jupiter if Trump was elected. Sadly still here on earth.
We tried to tell Jupiter they needed a carbon tax.
Another reason why we must immediately suspend an outdated Constitution that is not up to the task of Solar system-wide climate change, and implement full Communism now!
There is no more time to waste! Only 11.734 remain for life on Earth, if we cling to our petty freedoms.
12 years before a supernova
LOVE that song...but I love Frank...in a non-sexual way.
The amazing thing is that anything so far away as Jupiter could be affected by something besides gravity and light from the sun.
Oh no! Jupiter is experiencing global warming!
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