Jupiter’s baffling Magnetic Field

Jupiter has the strongest and different planetary magnetic field in our Solar System.

New data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft showing that Jupiter’s magnetic field is not like anything astronomer have seen before. Almost entirely, it is confined to the northern hemisphere.

Scientists noticed at the giant planet a very strange hemispheric dichotomy: The northern hemisphere’s magnetic field was nothing like the southern one.

Jupiter’s magnetic field is maintained by electric currents, flowing in the planet’s interior.

The measurements were possible thanks to the close approach that Juno makes to Jupiter, flying only 4,000 kilometers above its surface, once every 53 days.

Jupiter’s baffling Magnetic Field

The differences between the magnetic fields of the planet’s northern (left) and southern hemispheres (right).  Graphic: Moore et al (Nature 2018)

source newsweek