Planet Jupiter is in the spotlight after scientists recently issued a tornado warning for Jupiter, due to the discovery of magnetic vortices that form in the gas giant's ionosphere, influencing its deep atmosphere. These magnetic vortices generate huge anticyclones that absorb ultraviolet (UV) radiation, each of them being the size of our planet. The phenomenon is visible in the form of dark ovals, like a dense fog of aerosols in Jupiter's stratosphere.
These anticyclonic storms appear as dark ovals and can only be seen in UV light. They were initially detected at the north and south poles of the planet Jupiter in the 1990s, thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope. Their confirmation came in 2000, during the passage of NASA's Cassini spacecraft to Saturn. For a long time, the origin of these mysterious ovals remained unknown.
Recently, a team of researchers led by Troy Tsubota, a student at the University of California, Berkeley, discovered that the dark ovals are the result of magnetic tornadoes produced by the friction of magnetic field lines in Jupiter's atmosphere. These vortices deep in the planet's stratosphere contribute to the formation of aerosols that absorb UV radiation.
The key to the discovery was the analysis of images of Jupiter taken annually by the Hubble Space Telescope, within the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project. These images, captured between 2015 and 2022, showed the presence of a dark oval three quarters of the time at the South Pole and only once at the North Pole. What made the researchers believe that the formation of the ovals is closely related to the dynamics of Jupiter's magnetic field, similar to the way the aurora borealis manifests itself on Earth.
The planet Jupiter is at the Center of an INCREDIBLE Discovery by Scientists
Jupiter's extremely strong magnetic field plays a crucial role in the appearance of dark ovals. Like Earth, the magnetic field of the planet Jupiter converges towards its poles, which leads to the formation of auroras at its poles, visible only in UV light.
In the vicinity of Jupiter is also the Io Plasma Torus, a ring of charged particles from active volcanoes on the eruptive moon Io. The friction between the magnetic field lines in this torus and the field lines in Jupiter's ionosphere appears to be responsible for the formation of the magnetic vortices that cause the dark ovals.
This explanation was suggested by Tom Stallard from Northumbria University in Newcastle, who collaborated with Troy Tsubota and his team to unravel this mystery. Following the formation of these magnetic tornadoes, the particles are drawn deep into the planet's atmosphere, creating a dense fog zone that absorbs UV radiation. However, it is not yet clear whether tornadoes transport fog from deep within the planet or generate it in the stratosphere.
Observations show that dark ovals take about a month to form and dissolve in a few weeks. The moment and location of their appearance do not correlate directly with the explosions of charged particles from the torus plasma, which suggests that other more complex processes are involved in the dynamics of these phenomena.
Considering the regular rhythm of the formation of these magnetic phenomena, it can be said that Jupiter is in the middle of a true alley of magnetic tornadoes, which provide valuable clues about the dynamics of the magnetic field and the atmosphere of this gigantic planet.
The discovery of magnetic vortices and the formation of dark ovals offers a new understanding of the atmospheric dynamics of the planet Jupiter, revealing fascinating links between the planet's extremely strong magnetic field and its dense atmosphere. These giant magnetic tornadoes and anticyclones represent a spectacular demonstration of the power of the planet Jupiter, continuing to fascinate the scientific community and draw attention to this amazing extraterrestrial world.
