Global Courant 2023-05-26 21:14:13
Data obtained by NASA’s Juno probe is providing new information, scientists say, about how lightning processes on Jupiter are similar to those on Earth, despite the dramatic differences between the two planets.
Hidden beneath the brownish ammonia clouds that cover Jupiter are clouds that, like on Earth, are made of water. And just like on Earth, lightning is often generated in these clouds – an eerie sight seen by several spacecraft, including Juno, that have visited our solar system’s largest planet.
Earth is a relatively small rocky world. Jupiter, whose namesake of an ancient Roman god threw thunderbolts, is a gas giant so immense that all the other planets in our solar system fit neatly into it — including more than 1,300 Earths.
Using five years of high-resolution data acquired by Juno’s radio receiver as the spacecraft orbits Jupiter, the researchers found that the planet’s lightning initiation processes pulsate at a similar rhythm to that observed in clouds on Earth. our planet. The pulses observed on Jupiter as lightning flashes were initiated at time intervals of about a millisecond, similar to thunderstorms on Earth.
This illustration shows NASA’s Juno spacecraft on Jupiter. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)
Lightning is the most powerful naturally occurring electrical source on Earth.
“Lightning is an electrical discharge, which is initiated in thunderclouds. The ice and water particles in the cloud are charged by collisions and form particle layers with the same polarity,” said planetary scientist Ivana Kolmasova of the Czech Academy of Sciences. Institute for Atmospheric Physics in Prague, lead author of the study published this week in the journal Nature Communications.
“This process creates a huge electric field and allows the discharge to be initiated. This explanation is somewhat simplified because scientists are still not entirely sure what exactly happens in storm clouds.”
Lightning in the solar system
The existence of lightning on Jupiter was confirmed when telltale radio emissions at audible frequencies were recorded in 1979 by NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft as it ventured through the solar system.
The other gas planets of the solar system – Saturn, Uranus and Neptune – have also been shown to have lightning. There is some evidence for lightning in the clouds of the rocky planet Venus, although it is still a matter of debate.
This image, taken from a film captured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft in 2010, shows lightning flashes on Saturn’s night side in a cloud illuminated by light from Saturn’s rings. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/University of Iowa)
Other studies have detailed other similarities in the lightning processes on Jupiter and Earth. For example, lightning rates on the two planets are similar, although the distribution of lightning on Jupiter differs from that on Earth.
“On Earth, the tropical regions are the most active. The majority of Jupiter lightning occurs in mid-latitudes and also in polar regions. We have almost no lightning activity near the poles on Earth. It means that the conditions for the formation of Jovian and terrestrial storm clouds are likely very different,” Kolmasova said.
“There were some attempts to compare the power of lightning based on optical measurements and it was concluded that lightning on Jupiter could be comparable to the strongest terrestrial lightning.”
Kolmasova noted that more analysis is planned.
Jupiter is composed mostly of hydrogen and helium, with trace amounts of other gases. Streaks and a few storms dominate the colorful appearance of Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun with a diameter of about 143,000 kilometers.
Juno has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, acquiring information about its atmosphere, internal structure, internal magnetic field, and the area around it created by internal magnetism.
