{"id":88,"date":"2016-06-30T12:55:46","date_gmt":"2016-06-30T12:55:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/?p=88"},"modified":"2025-02-26T13:28:20","modified_gmt":"2025-02-26T13:28:20","slug":"observing-jupiters-auroras-with-hubble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/2016\/06\/30\/observing-jupiters-auroras-with-hubble\/","title":{"rendered":"Observing Jupiter’s auroras with Hubble"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Unfortunately, they don\u2019t let you take observing trips to the Hubble Space Telescope; perhaps the only downside to using the veteran observatory.\u00a0 It is a strange feeling, knowing that this world-renowned and famously oversubscribed facility, perhaps best known for its remarkable images of nebulae and galaxies, is, for a fleeting moment in history, doing what I have requested.\u00a0 On the one hand it is obviously a huge privilege, extremely exciting and a source of professional pride.\u00a0 \u00a0On the other, although I have spent a considerable length of time over the past year developing computer simulations of what I expect to see at any given time, and having engaged in lengthy to- and fro- conversations with our telescope program coordinator in Baltimore to define the precise coordinates in the sky where I\u2019d like to point the observatory, there is a nagging feeling that somehow, somewhere I must have forgotten to carry the 1 and I\u2019m going to point the world\u2019s most precious astronomical facility at the Sun.\u00a0 Fortunately, that fear has so far proven to be merely healthy paranoia, and indeed there are many checks to make sure that such a calamity will not happen.\u00a0 Thanks to all the careful planning, we\u2019ve hit our target bang on, and we have captured some spectacular observations of Jupiter\u2019s auroras. But still.\u00a0 It\u2019s nerve-wracking.<\/p>\n

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\"Hubble

NASA\/ESA Hubble Space Telescope<\/p><\/div>\n

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The fantastic thing about observing Jupiter\u2019s auroral emissions is that every single time we look, something different is going on.\u00a0 Sure, there are patterns and some features are like old friends but, like snowflakes, the images display remarkable variety within an overall framework of distinct features.\u00a0 \u00a0It is always exciting to download brand new, pristine data and discover what is happening this time, and knowing that only you and perhaps a handful of other scientists worldwide have ever seen the data at which you are currently marvelling.\u00a0 In this case, we have had the privilege of capturing some spectacularly active emissions, and some of the most powerful ever observed.\u00a0 In one case the total power released by the auroral emissions was equivalent to 6,000 nuclear power stations.\u00a0 Remarkable!\u00a0 It is as if Jupiter is throwing a fireworks party in anticipation of Juno\u2019s arrival!\u00a0 Our job now, over the coming weeks and months, is to painstakingly compare the auroral observations with Juno\u2019s measurements of the solar wind as it approached Jupiter.\u00a0\u00a0 This is a unique moment in which we are able to do perform this test, as we\u2019ve never had such a great set of solar wind observations near Jupiter while we are observing with HST, and of course Hubble will not be around for the next mission to Jupiter.\u00a0 The hope is that we will be able to determine whether the solar wind, which is known to drive Earth\u2019s auroras and play a large role in driving Saturn\u2019s, also controls to some degree Jupiter\u2019s auroras and magnetosphere. This is presently unknown, and is a gaping hole in our understanding of the solar system\u2019s largest natural particle accelerator.\u00a0 The fact that we\u2019ve seen such great auroras during the program bodes well for our investigation.<\/p>\n

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An example of an image of Jupiter’s auroras obtained by the author using Hubble Space Telescope. This particular image was captured on 17 May 2016 using the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph.<\/p><\/div>\n

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So why do this? \u00a0Apart from being intrinsically interesting, understanding how planetary magnetospheres respond to \u2018space weather\u2019 has become important for our civilization, which is increasingly reliant on satellite technology that is is exposed to such processes in space, and each planetary magnetosphere provides a different part of the overall story.\u00a0 \u00a0Jupiter in particular also provides an important accessible analogue for more distant astrophysical objects such as pulsars (Jupiter exhibits weak but genuine pulsar behaviour) and exoplanets, such that increasing our knowledge of how Jupiter\u2019s magnetosphere works has a positive impact on our wider understanding of the cosmos.<\/p>\n

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So, downloading the data is perhaps one of the most exciting parts of the process, but it is just the start of a thrilling scientific journey of discovery.<\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Unfortunately, they don\u2019t let you take observing trips to the Hubble Space Telescope; perhaps the only downside to using the veteran observatory.\u00a0 It is a strange feeling, knowing that this world-renowned and famously oversubscribed facility, perhaps best known for its remarkable images of nebulae and galaxies, is, for a fleeting moment in history, doing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":259,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[12,19,7,11],"class_list":["post-88","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mission","category-science","tag-aurora","tag-hubble-space-telescope","tag-juno","tag-jupiter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/259"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88\/revisions\/96"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staffblogs.le.ac.uk\/leicester-to-jupiter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}