Spacecraft Teamwork Ferrets Out Jupiter's Secrets

Judebert writes "Working together, Galileo and Cassini found how the solar wind affects Jupiter, shaping its magnetosphere (the biggest object in the solar system with distinct boundaries) and triggering auroras. They also detected the magnetic footprints of Jupiter's moons in the auroras. The Hubble and Chandra also had a role in this display of inter-planetary teamwork. Of course, the big benefit you receive from your tax dollars is all the pretty pictures! New desktop images for me!"

Comments

Re:Magnetosphere

[CheshireCatCO]

Actually, what you said is correct (if not what you meant): Jupiter's magnetic axis is more or less aligned with the spin axis. (It is, in fact, tipped 10 degrees towards 202 degrees System III longitude.) The mangetic field does spin with the planet, just like Earth's. This means that the Galilean moons experience different magnetic fields over the 9.92 hour rotation period of Jupiter, as the field sweeps over them.

On the other hand, opposite Earth's current field, Jupiter's mangetic north pole is in the northern hemisphere. (On Earth, just think about that fact that a compass's north is attracted to Earth's 'north', making the latter secretly south.)

If you want some wild magnetic axis action, with a really massive tilt relative to the spin axis, check out Uranus and Neptune. Both have wicked tilts, around 60 degrees.