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Research

X-raying the outer planets in our Solar System.

The shimmering, dancing curtains of light from our planet’s aurorae have mesmerised people for generations. However, it wasn’t until 1979 that the first extra-terrestrial aurora was detected during Voyager 1’s visit to Jupiter. The gas giant planet’s auroral emissions span several wavebands that includes X-rays. Studies show that Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field accelerates ions primarily from the local environment into the planet’s atmosphere above the polar regions. The ions undergo charge stripping before they charge exchange with atmospheric neutrals and produce soft (low energy) X-rays. These emissions also often pulse with periods of tens of minutes. A ring of high energy auroral X-rays arising from electron bremsstrahlung usually surrounds the soft X-ray emissions. Jupiter’s X-ray aurora are fixed on the planet’s frame so that as Jupiter spins on its axis, the aurorae rotate in and out of view, rather like how a pulsar’s beam of radiation sweeps across the sky.

 

How a planet can produce such intense X-rays is the main question that my project aims to answer. We are fortunate that the Juno spacecraft is currently orbiting Jupiter, as connections between the in-situ measurements that it takes, and X-ray signatures detected remotely by XMM-Newton can be made to achieve this aim.

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