Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2020 February 25

                     Jupiter's Magnetic Field from Juno
        Video Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, Harvard U., K. Moore et al.

   Explanation: How similar is Jupiter's magnetic field to Earth's? NASA's
   robotic Juno spacecraft has found that Jupiter's magnetic field is
   surprisingly complex, so that the Jovian world does not have single
   magnetic poles like our Earth. A snapshot of Jupiter's magnetic field
   at one moment in time, as animated from Juno data, appears in the
   featured video. Red and blue colors depict cloud-top regions of strong
   positive (south) and negative (north) magnetic fields, respectively.
   Surrounding the planet are imagined lines of constant magnetic field
   strength. The first sequence of the animated video starts off by
   showing what appears to be a relatively normal dipole field, but soon a
   magnetic region now known as the Great Blue Spot rotates into view,
   which is not directly aligned with Jupiter's rotation poles. Further,
   in the second sequence, the illustrative animation takes us over one of
   Jupiter's spin poles where red magnetic hotspots are revealed to be
   extended and sometimes even annular. A better understanding of
   Jupiter's magnetic field may give clues toward a better understanding
   of Earth's enigmatic planetary magnetism.

                       Tomorrow's picture: planet lost
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       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
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                             & Michigan Tech. U.

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