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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!"
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.
Tectonics? Not really. If there is, we can't really see evidence of it, with all the volcanoes. Perhaps you mean volcanic activity, which is a (somewhat) different beast?
Sulphur Volcanoes.
The more recent evidence (past couple of years) points to silicate volcanism, rather than sulphuric. This is because we have higher resolution IR images of the surface, and the lava is really hot (1200 K, I think). This points to silicates rather than sulphur. Also, Io's topography has long been known to be too varied to be supported by sulphur.
you'd get a fatal tan
Nope. Sorry, but I get frustated when people seem to perpetually confuse particle radiation and electromagnetic radiation. The latter can give tans. The former will simply kill you, in high enough dosage. It's particles that are trapped in the Jovian magnetosphere and which pepper the surface of Io.
Oh, the solar wind isn't (much of?) an issue. Probes have survived solar maximum near Earth (SOHO, for instance), and the wind becomes less intense like 1/r2 as you move away from the Sun.