An international team of researchers has succeeded in measuring the current system responsible for Jupiter’s aurora. Using data transmitted to Earth by NASA’s Juno spacecraft, they showed that the direct currents were much weaker than expected and that alternating currents must therefore play a special role. On Earth, on the other hand, a direct current system creates its aurora. Jupiter’s electric current system is kept going in particular by large centrifugal forces, which hurl ionized sulfur dioxide gas from the gas giant’s moon Io through the magnetosphere.
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Source: Phys.org