New Horizons is equipped with a suite of instruments called the Solar Wind Analyzer Around Pluto (SWAP), designed to chart fields of energy and charged particles in the interplanetary environment. Jupiter is surrounded by the largest and most complex magnetic bubble, or magnetosphere, of any planet. With the expectation of the sun, Jupiter's energy is the most powerful source in Earth's sky. In fact, to the naked eye viewed from Earth, Jupiter's magnetosphere would appear twice as far across as the full moon. The human eye cannot see such things, but New Horizons can and this was one of the most important aspects of the Jupiter encounter. The magnetosphere of Jupiter forms a titanic bubble of resistance against the storm of particles that flow constantly from the sun - the solar wind. Trailing behind the planet is the magnetotail, a sort of planetary wake cast by Jupiter across the Sun's magnetic fields.
A representation of Jupiter's magnetosphere and how it interacts with its moons, in particular lo. The lo Plasma Torus is a ring of charged particles emitted by lo's volcanoes that links the moon to Jupiter.
Image: John Spencer (Southwest Research Institute)
Like other New Horizons instruments, SWAP was designed for the subtler environment of Pluto, so its sensitivity had to be reduced in Jupiter's neighbourhood. New Horizons SWAP experiments are similar to equipment flown on earlier missions. The major advantage this time around was the flight path of New Horizons, as it is the first spacecraft to fly down the magnetotail. Additionally, the spacecraft passed through the magnetosphere in a different direction from earlier explorers, giving researchers an invaluable new slice of the complex system to study.
New Horizons confirmed some aspects of earlier theories and models of Jupiter's complicated fields and particles, but shed light on new aspect as well. There were a lot of subtle suprises in the details of how this things works.
One revelation has been how complex the magnetotail is, most models potray it as a column of quiet space - a kind of magnetic backwater - behind the planet. But New Horizons data shows that the region is complicated and interesting. The is no obvious, simple picture. The magnetotail is a highly structured planetary environment and it will take some time to figure it out.
At this moment of writing, New Horizons is continuing down the tail at a relative speed of 10-15 kilometres/second. The tail appears to move back and forth in the solar wind. At a distance of 2000 planetary radii (around 142 million kilometres), the spacecraft is still within the planet's wake.
To see an animation of New Horizons' voyage down the magnetotail, visit the New Horizons website here.
A representation of Jupiter's magnetosphere and how it interacts with its moons, in particular lo. The lo Plasma Torus is a ring of charged particles emitted by lo's volcanoes that links the moon to Jupiter.Image: John Spencer (Southwest Research Institute)
Like other New Horizons instruments, SWAP was designed for the subtler environment of Pluto, so its sensitivity had to be reduced in Jupiter's neighbourhood. New Horizons SWAP experiments are similar to equipment flown on earlier missions. The major advantage this time around was the flight path of New Horizons, as it is the first spacecraft to fly down the magnetotail. Additionally, the spacecraft passed through the magnetosphere in a different direction from earlier explorers, giving researchers an invaluable new slice of the complex system to study.
New Horizons confirmed some aspects of earlier theories and models of Jupiter's complicated fields and particles, but shed light on new aspect as well. There were a lot of subtle suprises in the details of how this things works.
One revelation has been how complex the magnetotail is, most models potray it as a column of quiet space - a kind of magnetic backwater - behind the planet. But New Horizons data shows that the region is complicated and interesting. The is no obvious, simple picture. The magnetotail is a highly structured planetary environment and it will take some time to figure it out.
At this moment of writing, New Horizons is continuing down the tail at a relative speed of 10-15 kilometres/second. The tail appears to move back and forth in the solar wind. At a distance of 2000 planetary radii (around 142 million kilometres), the spacecraft is still within the planet's wake.
To see an animation of New Horizons' voyage down the magnetotail, visit the New Horizons website here.
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5 comments:
weh ble nk wat en3 pasai fly path dia lak beb? nk gak tau laluan mana dia amek nk pi pluto tu.
pastu, dh abes kaji pluto, kemana lak hala tujuan NH tu? blk ke bumi smula ke? atau terus ke luar bima sakti cam kapal penjelajah yg lain2?
p/s: mekasih tlg siapkan tesis aku beb. ko mmg kwn yg best. hehehe
seb baek aku xde adek pompuan. kalau x leh ko jd adik ipar aku lak...wakakaka
info yg menarik.
harap dpt tulis part 3 dgn kadar segera. hehee
blah la wei sherif...
nk aku jd adik ipar kunun. haha. semoga ko dpt A++ utk tesis tu k. good luck buddy.
senang2 nanti aku buatla entry pasal path dia lak. tp yg pastinya, New Horizon takkan patah balik ke bumi. lps habis mengorbit Pluto dan mengumpul data2 yg diperlukan, kapal penjelajah ini akan bergerak lebih jauh ke dalam kuipper belt utk mengkaji beberapa lagi siri dwarft object.
ko x sudi ke nk jd adik ipar aku? weh3
kuipper belt ek?
waaaa, sure lbh gempak penemuan. tp kn mate, dlm byk2 hal psl NH ni kan, yg plg mengkagumkan aku ialah camne dia transmit data tu ke bumi. special sket kn? and cpt? hehee
kalau dlu aku kagum ngan cassini, skrg aku kagum ngan NH. pic dia pun lawa2. aku dh wat koleksi wallpaper ni.
aku rasa, ko patut wat 1 en3 special pasal NH. ko dedikasikanlah en3 tuh special utk aku....sbb aku yg request kan. ada bran? wakakaka
aku masih kagum dgn cassini sampai hari ni beb, sbb tanpa casinni kita xkan tau yg saturn G-ring dh mula patah kan. NH cuma follow up la...dan imej yg NH camtured lbh bgs. say thanks to LORRI :)
well, masa kat jupiter NH transmitted data ke stesen satelit bumi dlm masa hanya sejam stgh je. bila sampai ke pluto, atas faktor2 tertentu data transmiting akan delay sket dianggarkan dlm masa 4 jam lebih ke 5 jam.
tp itu consider agak laju jugak la kan kalau nk compared ngan jarak pluto ngan bumi yg sgt jauh tu
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