A model using currents in the deep ocean to drive rotation of Europa’s ice shell from below can explain why its surface may drift despite being tidally locked.
Jupiter
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Callisto’s H Corona: Offspring of the Surface or the Atmosphere?
The mostly unknown Callisto’s H corona is created by a global tenuous H2 atmosphere and not by surface water as previously believed, providing the first evidence for H2 in Callisto’s atmosphere.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Europa’s Plate Tectonic Activity Is Unlike Earth’s
The moon of Jupiter has likely experienced intermittent, regional plate tectonic activity in the past, although the plates are currently dormant.
Posted inNews
Could Jupiter’s Heat Waves Help Solve a Planetary Energy Crisis?
Infrared observations reveal that Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is much warmer than models predict. The discovery may be a clue to finding missing heat sources in other giant planets.
Posted inNews
Impact Crater off the African Coast May Be Linked to Chicxulub
The underwater crater, spotted serendipitously in commercial observations of seafloor sediments, is believed to have formed at roughly the same time as the famous Cretaceous-Paleogene impact event.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Meteoric Ions Influence Conductance in the Jovian Ionosphere
Meteoric ions dominate the Jovian lower ionosphere due to their long lifetimes. Due to the large densities of the meteoric ions, conductance is enhanced independently of local time.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
A Transition Zone Below Jupiter’s Clouds
The microwave radiometer aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals the hidden atmospheric circulations at work deep below Jupiter’s colorful clouds.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Could Low-Altitude Reconnection Power Jupiter’s Polar Aurorae?
Magnetic reconnection events less than 2 Jovian radii above the planet’s cloud tops could explain why Juno has yet to observe a source for Jupiter’s polar aurore.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Juno Detects Jupiter’s Highest-Energy Ions
Trapped ions discovered at midlatitudes can have energies exceeding 100 megaelectron volts per nucleon. Their detection adds to our understanding of the powerful radiation environment around Jupiter.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Fingerprints of Jupiter Formation
Meteorite isotopes, meteorite paleomagnetics, and planet formation models collectively show Jupiter formation via first slow then fast collection of material by core accretion in <5 million years.