An international group of astronomers solved the heating of the atmosphere of Jupiter, the mechanism of which has long remained unknown. Scientists nicknamed this anomaly “energy crisis”. This is reported in an article published in the journal Nature.
Researchers analyzed the data obtained by the bracket observatory in Hawaii, and created the most detailed thermal map of the upper layers of the gas giant atmosphere. It turned out that in the vicinity of areas where polar beams are observed, the atmosphere temperature reaches high values. These regions, despite the fact that less than ten percent of the surface of Jupiter are responsible for heating the entire planet.
Polar radiances occur when charged particles are travded with a magnetic field of the planet. They move along the helix along the power lines to the magnetic poles of Jupiter, facing atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, released light and energy. The strength of polar beams and unusual heating depends on the substance that is thrown by volcanoes on the satellite of IO.
was previously assumed that the atmosphere of gas planets function as a giant refrigerator, since thermal energy is discharged from the equator to the pole and falls into the lower layers of the atmosphere in the polar regions. However, the new model indicates that there is an opposite flow of thermal energy, thereby heating the equatorial regions.