Astronomy
By John Wenz | Published: January 9, 2024
Despite its 484-million-mile (778 million kilometers) distance, the Sun still has a measurable impact on Jupiter, generating jets of plasma around the planet. But it turns out they’ve been hiding from us for nearly 45 years.
A study published in Nature Communications re-examines Voyager 2 data from its encounter with Jupiter in July 1979. The study’s authors found evidence for jets of plasma spilling off the outer regions of the giant planet’s huge magnetosphere, which is the area around a planet where its magnetic field holds sway.