New Data from the Juno Spacecraft Reveals that Jupiter's Has a Rippling, Wavy Magnetodisk

Jupiter is the largest planet in the Solar System and has a planetary magnetosphere to match! Since 2016, NASA's Juno probe has studied this massive planet to better understand its magnetosphere and its famous interaction with Io, its volcanic, innermost moon. Of particular interest is the ring-shaped magnetodisk, driven by the planet's rapid rotation and Io's volcanic material. Until recently, scientists pictured this feature as a smooth disk that rises and falls with Jupiter's rotation.

However, an international team led by researchers from Shandong University is changing that view based on new Juno probe data. As part of their study, which appeared in the journal Science China Earth Sciences , they analyzed Jupiter's magnetic field and energetic particle activity during multiple events in the Jovian magnetodisk. Their results show that Jupiter's magnetodisk crumples into a wave-like structure during active periods.