The North Poles of Jupiter's Moon Ganymede Probed by NASA Spacecraft (space.com) 17
"NASA's Juno Jupiter probe has captured unprecedented views of the largest moon in the solar system," reports Space.com:
During a close flyby of Jupiter on Dec. 26, 2019, Juno mapped the north polar regions of the icy satellite Ganymede in infrared light, something no other spacecraft had done before. The data, which Juno gathered using its Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument, show that Ganymede's northern reaches are very different than locales closer to the equator of the moon, which is bigger than the planet Mercury. "The JIRAM data show the ice at and surrounding Ganymede's north pole has been modified by the precipitation of plasma," Alessandro Mura, a Juno co-investigator at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome, said in a statement.
"It is a phenomenon that we have been able to learn about for the first time with Juno because we are able to see the north pole in its entirety."
This plasma consists of charged particles from the sun, which have been trapped by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. Unlike any other moon, the 3,274-mile-wide (5,269 kilometers) Ganymede has a magnetic field of its own, which funnels the plasma toward its poles. A similar phenomenon occurs here on Earth, which explains why the auroras occur at high latitudes on our planet. But Ganymede has no atmosphere to obstruct and be lit up by these particles, so they slam hard into the ice at and around both poles.
The article notes that the $1.1 billion Juno probe "launched in August 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in July 2016."
"It is a phenomenon that we have been able to learn about for the first time with Juno because we are able to see the north pole in its entirety."
This plasma consists of charged particles from the sun, which have been trapped by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. Unlike any other moon, the 3,274-mile-wide (5,269 kilometers) Ganymede has a magnetic field of its own, which funnels the plasma toward its poles. A similar phenomenon occurs here on Earth, which explains why the auroras occur at high latitudes on our planet. But Ganymede has no atmosphere to obstruct and be lit up by these particles, so they slam hard into the ice at and around both poles.
The article notes that the $1.1 billion Juno probe "launched in August 2011 and arrived at Jupiter in July 2016."
Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
This morning, we're looking at pictures of another planet's moon 625 million kms from Earth, from a probe we launched almost nine years ago, and the news will barely cover it unless it gets protested for some arcane conspiracy theory.
It's increasingly difficult to reconcile that we are the same technologically advanced people who could pull off such a mission.
Re: Amazing (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: Amazing (Score:2)
Our only hope is to go multiplanetary and require a minimum IQ and science exams of everyone allowed to go there.
Re: Amazing (Score:1)
Re: (Score:3)
To most people, the probe is (relatively) ancient history. As well as being a waste of taxpayer money (after all, who really cares what Jupiter's moons look like? Not like we're ever going to go there.)
And many of the people who do care about the probe still have the "who cares, we're never going there" problem. After all, it's been nearly 50 years since the last man went to OU
Re: (Score:1, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
SpaceX would not exist if not for the billions of dollars NASA has spent over the past 40+ years. SpaceX has only enhanced and fine tuned the technology and operational procedures defined by NASA. As of right now unmanned probes are the only means with which we can collect and study our local solar system. Manned explorations at this point are nothing more than vanity projects that would most likely result in trillion dollar suicide missions.
SpaceX and the other commercial space endeavors are eventually g
Back At Ya (Score:2)
Now they know how it feels to be probed by an alien.
What, no evidence of Santa's house? (Score:2)
North poles? (Score:2)
This is the real science breakthrough!
A celestial body having multiple north poles.
According to the standard celestial model, multiple south poles are also expected to be seen, while the theory avoids the existence of east and west poles.
RIP RAH (Score:3)
30-something years on, I can still remember the thrill of first reading "Farmers in the Sky" and picturing what it was like to live on Ganymede thanks to Heinlein's vivid writing. And of course the sense of humanity's ability to push forward with science.