Disir
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- Sep 30, 2011
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Astronomers have discovered new auroras over Jupiter's four largest moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto, observable at visible wavelengths. The new auroras reveal in greater detail the composition of the thin atmospheres of these Jovian moons, including traces of oxygen and sodium, but only minimal water vapor.
The team made the discovery while observing the moons as they sat in the shadow of Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, using the Keck Observatory's High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) as well as high-resolution spectrographs at the Large Binocular Telescope and Apache Point Observatory.
The use of Jupiter's shadow as a sunshade allowed the scientists to see the faint auroras, caused by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field without them being overwhelmed by bright sunlight reflected from the surface of the Galilean moons, named this because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei in the 1600s.
www.space.com
This is pretty neat.
The team made the discovery while observing the moons as they sat in the shadow of Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, using the Keck Observatory's High-Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES) as well as high-resolution spectrographs at the Large Binocular Telescope and Apache Point Observatory.
The use of Jupiter's shadow as a sunshade allowed the scientists to see the faint auroras, caused by Jupiter's powerful magnetic field without them being overwhelmed by bright sunlight reflected from the surface of the Galilean moons, named this because they were discovered by Galileo Galilei in the 1600s.
New auroras detected on Jupiter's four largest moons
The auroras can be seen as they sit in the shadow of Jupiter.
www.space.com
This is pretty neat.
