Jupiter Research Articles

Jupiter’s dynamo is unlike any other

Jupiter’s dynamo is unlike any other

Insulator-metal transition in dense fluid deuterium.

Dense fluid metallic hydrogen occupies the interiors of Jupiter, Saturn, and many extrasolar planets, where pressures reach millions of atmospheres. Planetary structure models must describe accurately the transition from the outer molecular envelopes to the interior metallic regions. We report optical measurements of dynamically compressed fluid deuterium to 600 gigapascals (GPa) that reveal an increasing refractive index, the onset of absorption of visible light near 150 GPa, and a transition to metal-like reflectivity (exceeding 30%) near 200 GPa, all at temperatures below 2000 kelvin. Our measurements and analysis address existing discrepancies between static and dynamic experiments for the insulator-metal transition in dense fluid hydrogen isotopes. They also provide new benchmarks for the theoretical calculations used to construct planetary models.

Proposed landing on europa: instruments, radiation shielding, planetary protection, and mission

Europa is a moon of the planet Jupiter. Slightly smaller than Earth's own moon, it is the smallest of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter but the sixth largest moon in our solar system. Its primary feature is its highly reflective surface; preliminary indications are that it may have a massive ocean underneath its icy crust. In 2013, the Hubble Space Telescope detected indications of water-vapor plumes [1]. Furthermore, Europa's variegated shell may be the result of geological activity, like Earth's plate tectonics. In 2015, NASA reported that sea salt may coat some surface features on Europa [2]. Outside of Earth, Europa is the most promising body in the solar system for supporting life. Europa might support a base for human habitation while performing interplanetary exploration.

Ten new moons—including one ‘oddball’—discovered around Jupiter

Ten new moons—including one ‘oddball’—discovered around Jupiter

Reprint of A deterministic model for forecasting long-term solar activity

A phenomenological model is presented for the quantitative description of individual solar cycles' features, such as onset, intensity, evolution, in terms of the number of M and X-class solar flares. The main elements of the model are the relative ecliptic motion of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and its synergy with a quasi-periodic component of solar activity. Using as input the temporal distribution of flares during cycle 21, the general evolution of cycles 22–24 is reproduced in notable agreement with the observations, including the resurgence of activity in the last months of 2017, and further predictions are provided for cycle 25. This deterministic description could contribute to elucidating the responsible physical mechanisms and forecasting space weather.

Jupiter’s gravity field is North-South asymmetric

Jupiter’s gravity field is North-South asymmetric

Metallic hydrogen

Hydrogen is the simplest and most abundant element in the Universe. There are two pathways for creating metallic hydrogen under high pressures. Over 80 years ago Wigner and Huntington predicted that if solid molecular hydrogen was sufficiently compressed in the T = 0 K limit, molecules would dissociate to form atomic metallic hydrogen (MH). We have observed this transition at a pressure of 4.95 megabars. MH in this form has probably never existed on Earth or in the Universe; it may be a room temperature superconductor and is predicted to be metastable. If metastable it will have an important technological impact. Liquid metallic hydrogen can also be produced at intermediate pressures and high temperatures and is believed to make up ~90% of the planet Jupiter. We have observed this liquid–liquid transition, also known as the plasma phase transition, at pressures of ~1–2 megabar and temperatures ~1000–2000 K. However, in this paper we shall focus on the Wigner–Huntington transition. We shall discuss the methods used to observe metallic hydrogen at extreme conditions of static pressure in the laboratory, extending our understanding of the phase diagram of the simplest atom in the periodic table.

A deterministic model for forecasting long-term solar activity

A phenomenological model is presented for the quantitative description of individual solar cycles' features, such as onset, intensity, evolution, in terms of the number of M and X-class solar flares. The main elements of the model are the relative ecliptic motion of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, and its synergy with a quasi-periodic component of solar activity. Using as input the temporal distribution of flares during cycle 21, the general evolution of cycles 22–24 is reproduced in notable agreement with the observations, including the resurgence of activity in the last months of 2017, and further predictions are provided for cycle 25. This deterministic description could contribute to elucidating the responsible physical mechanisms and forecasting space weather.

ARTS, the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator – version 2.2, the planetary toolbox edition

Abstract. This article describes the latest stable release (version 2.2) of the Atmospheric Radiative Transfer Simulator (ARTS), a public domain software for radiative transfer simulations in the thermal spectral range (microwave to infrared). The main feature of this release is a planetary toolbox that allows simulations for the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter, in addition to Earth. This required considerable model adaptations, most notably in the area of gaseous absorption calculations. Other new features are also described, notably radio link budgets (including the effect of Faraday rotation that changes the polarization state) and the treatment of Zeeman splitting for oxygen spectral lines. The latter is relevant, for example, for the various operational microwave satellite temperature sensors of the Advanced Microwave Sounding Unit (AMSU) family.

Jupiter’s chaotic storms have roots deep beneath its surface

Jupiter’s chaotic storms have roots deep beneath its surface

On the Synchronizability of Tayler–Spruit and Babcock–Leighton Type Dynamos

The solar cycle appears to be remarkably synchronized with the gravitational torques exerted by the tidally dominant planets Venus, Earth and Jupiter. Recently, a possible synchronization mechanism was proposed that relies on the intrinsic helicity oscillation of the current-driven Tayler instability which can be stoked by tidal-like perturbations with a period of 11.07 years. Inserted into a simple alpha-Omega dynamo model these resonantly excited helicity oscillations led to a 22.14 years dynamo cycle. Here, we assess various alternative mechanisms of synchronization. Specifically we study a simple time-delay model of Babcock-Leighton type dynamos and ask whether periodic changes of either the minimal amplitude for rising toroidal flux tubes or the Omega effect could eventually lead to synchronization. In contrast to the easy and robust synchronizability of Tayler-Spruit dynamo models, our answer for those Babcock-Leighton type models is less propitious.

Coloring Jupiter's clouds: Radiolysis of ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH)

Here we present our recent studies on the color and spectral reflectance changes induced by ∼0.9 MeV proton irradiation of ammonium hydrosulfide, NH4SH, a compound predicted to be an important tropospheric cloud component of Jupiter and other giant planets. Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy was used to observe and identify reaction products in the ice sample and digital photography was used to document the corresponding color changes at 10–160 K. Our experiments clearly show that the resulting color of the sample depends not only on the irradiation dose but also the irradiation temperature. Furthermore, unlike in our most recent studies of irradiation of NH4SH at 120 K, which showed that higher irradiation doses caused the sample to appear green, the lower temperature studies now show that the sample becomes red after irradiation. However, comparison of these lower temperature spectra over the entire spectral range observed by HST shows that even though the color and spectrum resemble the color and spectrum of the GRS, there is still enough difference to suggest that another component may be needed to adequately fit spectra of the GRS and other red regions of Jupiter's clouds. Regardless, the presence of NH4SH in the atmosphere of Jupiter and other gas giants, combined with this compound's clear alteration via radiolysis, suggests that its contribution to the ultraviolet-visible spectra of any of these object's clouds is significant.

Changes in the activity of Jupiter’s hemispheres

Changes in the activity of Jupiter’s hemispheres

Why is Jupiter's Great Spot red?

Why is Jupiter's Great Spot red?

FRANCESCO FONTANA AND THE BIRTH OF THE ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE

In the late 1620s the Neapolitan Francesco Fontana was the first to observe the sky using a telescope with two convex lenses, which he had manufactured himself. Fontana succeeded in drawing the most accurate maps of the Moon's surface of his time, which were to become popular through a number of publications that appeared throughout Europe but did not acknowledge the author. At the end of 1645, in a state of declining health and pressed by the need to defend his authorship, Fontana carried out an intense observing campaign, the results of which he hurriedly collected in his <italic>Novae Coelestium Terrestriumque rerum Observationis</italic> (1646), the only public- cation he left for posterity. Fontana observed the Moon's main craters, such as Tycho (which he referred to as 'Fons Major'), their radial debris patterns and changes in their appearance due to the Moon's motion. He observed the gibbosity of Mars at quadrature and, together with the Jesuit Giovanni Battista Zupus, he described the phases of Mercury. Fontana observed the two—and occasionally three—major bands of Jupiter, and inferred the rotation of the major planets Mars, Jupiter and Saturn, arguing that they could not be attached to an Aristotelian sky. He came close to revealing the ring structure of Saturn. He also suggested the presence of additional moons around Jupiter, Venus and Saturn, which prompted a debate that lasted more than a hundred years. In several places in his book Fontana claimed to have conceived the first positive eyepiece in 1608, and he provides a declaration by Zupus that his telescope was in use from 1614. Finally, we suggest that the telescopes depicted in the two paintings <italic>Allegory of Sight and Allegory of Sight and Smell</italic> by J. Brueghel the Elder might have been made by Fontana, and that he might by portrayed in the <italic>Allegory of Sight</italic> by Jusepe Ribera.

PERIPHERIES OF EPICYCLES IN THE &amp;lt;italic&amp;gt;GRAHALĀGHAVA&amp;lt;/italic&amp;gt;

For finding the true positions of the Sun, the Moon and the five planets the Indian classical astronomical texts use the concept of the <italic>manda</italic> epicycle which accounts for the equation of the centre. In addition, in the case of the five planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn) another equation called <italic>śīghraphala</italic> and the corresponding <italic>śīghra</italic> epicycle are adopted. This correction corresponds to the transformation of the true heliocentric longitude to the true geocentric longitude in modern astronomy. In some of the popularly used handbooks (<italic>karaṇa</italic>) instead of giving the mathematical expressions for the above said equations, their discrete numerical values, at intervals of 15°, are given. In the present paper using the data of discrete numerical values we build up continuous functions of periodic terms for the <italic>manda</italic> and <italic>śīghra</italic> equations. Further, we obtain the critical points and the maximum values for these two equations.

Line positions and intensities for the ν3 band of 5 isotopologues of germane for planetary applications

The germane molecule, GeH4, is present in the atmospheres of giant planets Jupiter and Saturn. The ongoing NASA mission Juno has renewed interest in its spectroscopy, whose accurate modeling is essential for the retrieval of other tropospheric species. We present here the first complete analysis and modeling of line positions and intensities in the strongly absorbing ν1/ν3 stretching dyad region near 2100 cm−1, for all five germane isotopologues in natural abundance. New infrared spectra were recorded, absolute intensities were extracted through a careful procedure and modeled thanks to the formalism and programs developed in the Dijon group. A database of calculated germane lines, GeCaSDa, has been build and is available online through the Virtual Atomic and Molecular Data Centre (VAMDC) portal and at http://vamdc.icb.cnrs.fr/PHP/gecasda.php.

New Results on a Babylonian Scheme for Jupiter’s Motion along the Zodiac

New Results on a Babylonian Scheme for Jupiter’s Motion along the Zodiac

The Fate of Close-in Planets: Tidal or Magnetic Migration?

Abstract Planets in close-in orbits interact magnetically and tidally with their host stars. These interactions lead to a net torque that makes close-in planets migrate inward or outward depending on their orbital distance. We systematically compare the strength of magnetic and tidal torques for typical observed star–planet systems (T-Tauri and hot Jupiter, M-dwarf and Earth-like planet, K star and hot Jupiter) based on state-of-the-art scaling laws. We find that depending on the characteristics of the system, tidal or magnetic effects can dominate. For very close-in planets, we find that both torques can make a planet migrate on a timescale as small as 10–100 thousands of years. Both effects thus have to be taken into account when predicting the evolution of compact systems.

Three Statistically Validated K2 Transiting Warm Jupiter Exoplanets Confirmed as Low-mass Stars

Abstract We have identified three K2 transiting star–planet systems, K2-51 (EPIC 202900527), K2-67 (EPIC 206155547), and K2-76 (EPIC 206432863), as stellar binaries with low-mass stellar secondaries. The three systems were statistically validated as transiting planets, and through measuring their orbits by radial velocity (RV) monitoring we have derived the companion masses to be (EPIC 202900527 B), (EPIC 206155547 B), and 0.0942 ± 0.0019 (EPIC 206432863 B). Therefore, they are not planets but small stars, part of the small sample of low-mass stars with measured radius and mass. The three systems are at an orbital period range of 12–24 days, and the secondaries have a radius within 0.9–1.9 , not inconsistent with the properties of warm Jupiter planets. These systems illustrate some of the existing challenges in the statistical validation approach. We point out a few possible origins for the initial misclassification of these objects, including poor characterization of the host star, the difficulty in detecting a secondary eclipse in systems on an eccentric orbit, and the difficulty in distinguishing between the smallest stars and gas giant planets as the two populations have indistinguishable radius distributions. Our work emphasizes the need for obtaining medium-precision RV measurements to distinguish between companions that are small stars, brown dwarfs, and gas giant planets.