Jupiter: A cloudy mirror for the Sun?
Astronomers using the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope have
discovered that observing the giant planet Jupiter may actually give them
an insight in to solar activity on the far side of the Sun! In research
reported in the most recent edition of Geophysical Research Letters, they
discovered that Jupiter's x-ray glow is due to x-rays from the Sun being
reflected back off the planet's atmosphere.
"We found that Jupiter's day-to-day disk x-rays were synchronised
with the Sun's emissions," says Dr Anil Bhardwaj, from NASA
Marshall Space Flight Centre and lead author on the paper.
"Unfortunately, we missed a relatively large solar flare during
the 3.5-days observation due to the perigee passage of the XMM-Newton".
"But, still we were lucky; particularly clear was a signature
of a moderate solar flare that went off during the observing period
- there was a corresponding brightening of the Jovian disk x-rays",
says Anil Bhardwaj.
In addition to supporting the researchers' theory, this result
has another application - in studying the Sun. The Sun is a very
dynamic environment and processes there have an impact on human
activities. For example, solar flares (the most powerful explosions
in the solar system) can damage satellites or injure astronauts
in space, and on Earth they can disrupt radio signals in the atmosphere,
so it is important to understand as much as we can about them.
There are several dedicated spacecraft watching the Sun (such as
the European Space Agency's SOHO satellite), as well as ground-based
telescopes, but there are gaps in coverage as some areas of the
Sun are not visible by any of these means at some times.
"As Jupiter orbits the Sun, we hope to be able to learn more
about the active areas of the Sun we can't see from Earth by watching
the Jovian x-ray emissions," says Dr Graziella Branduardi-Raymont
from the University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory.
"If a large solar flare occurs on an area of the Sun that is
facing Jupiter, we may be able to observe it in light scattered
from Jupiter, even if we cannot see that region of the Sun from
around the Earth at the time."
Jupiter's atmosphere is not a perfect mirror of the Sunlight in
X-rays - typically one in a few thousand x-ray photons (packets
of light) is reflected back, but the more energetic the photons,
the more are reflected into space.
Contact details
Dr Graziella
Branduardi-Raymont
Mullard Space Science Laboratory
Tel +44 1483 204133
Email: gbr@mssl.ucl.ac.uk
Dr. Anil Bhardwaj
NASA Marshall Space Flight Center
Tel +1 256 961-7852 (work)
Email Anil.Bhardwaj@msfc.nasa.gov or bhardwaj_spl@yahoo.com
Julia Maddock
PPARC Press Office
Tel +44 1793 442094
Email: Julia.maddock@pparc.ac.uk
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