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Jupiter was the first planet found (in 1955) to be a source of radiation at radio wavelengths (see radio and radar astronomy). The radiation was recorded at a frequency of 22 megahertz (corresponding to a wavelength of 13.6 metres, or 1.36 decametres) in the form of noise bursts with peak intensities sometimes great enough to make Jupiter the brightest source in the sky at this wavelength, except for the Sun during its most active phase. The bursts of radio noise from three distinct areas constituted the first evidence for a Jovian magnetic field. Subsequent observations at shorter (decimetre) wavelengths revealed that Jupiter is also a source of steady radio emission. It has become customary to refer to these two types of emission in terms of their characteristic wavelengths—decametre radiation and decimetre radiation.
The nonthermal component of the continuous decimetre radiation is interpreted as synchrotron emission—that is, radiation emitted by extremely high-speed electrons moving in the planet’s magnetic field within a toroidal, or doughnut-shaped, region surrounding Jupiter—a phenomenon closely analogous to that of Earth’s Van Allen belts. The maximum emission occurs at a distance of two planetary radii from the centre of the planet and has been detected from Earth at 178–5,000 megahertz and by the Cassini orbiter at 13,800 megahertz, the operating frequency of the spacecraft’s radar instrument. The intensity of the emission and its plane of polarization (the plane in which the oscillations of the radio emission lie preferentially) vary with the same period. Both effects are explained if the axis of the planet’s magnetic field is inclined by about 10° to the rotational axis. The period of these variations is the rotation period designated as System III (see above Basic astronomical data).
The intermittent radio emission at the decametre wavelengths has been studied from Earth in the accessible range of 3.5–39.5 megahertz. Free of Earth’s ionosphere, which blocks lower frequencies from reaching the surface, the radio-wave experiment on the Voyager spacecraft was able to detect emissions from Jupiter down to 60 kilohertz, corresponding to a wavelength of 5 km (3 miles). The strength of the radio signal and the frequency of noise storms show a marked time dependence that led to the early detection of three “sources,” or emitting regions. The System III rotational period was initially defined through the periodicity of these sources.
The decametre noise storms are greatly affected by the position of Jupiter’s moon Io in its orbit. For one source, events are much more likely to occur when Io is 90° from the position in which Earth, Jupiter, and Io are in a straight line (known as superior geocentric conjunction) than otherwise. The noise sources appear to be regions that lie in the line of sight toward the visible disk of the planet (unlike the nonthermal decimetric radiation).
The most promising explanation of the effect of the orbital motion of Io on noise storms relates the emission to a small region of space linked to Io by magnetic field lines (a flux tube) that move with Io. Electrons moving in spirals around the magnetic field lines could produce the observed radiation. Interactions between these electrons and the Jovian ionosphere are expected and indeed were observed by the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft. The “footprint” of Io’s flux tube on Jupiter’s upper atmosphere can even be observed from Earth as a glowing spot associated with Jupiter’s polar auroras.
The magnetic field and magnetosphere
The nonthermal radio emissions described above are the natural result of trapped charged particles interacting with Jupiter’s magnetic field and ionosphere. Interpretation of these observations led to a definition of the basic characteristics of the planet’s magnetic field and magnetosphere that was shown to be remarkably accurate by direct exploration of the vicinity of Jupiter by the Pioneer and Voyager spacecraft. The basic magnetic field of the planet is dipolar in nature, generated by a hydromagnetic dynamo that is driven by convection within the electrically conducting outer layers of Jupiter’s interior. The magnetic field strength is about 7.8 gauss, compared with about 0.5 gauss at Earth’s surface. The axis of the magnetic dipole is offset by a tenth of Jupiter’s equatorial radius of 71,500 km (44,400 miles) from the planet’s rotational axis, to which it is indeed inclined by 10°. The orientation of the Jovian magnetic field is opposite to the present orientation of Earth’s field, such that a terrestrial compass taken to Jupiter would point south.
The magnetic field dominates the region around Jupiter in the shape of an extended teardrop. The round side of the teardrop faces the Sun, where the Jovian field repels the solar wind, forming a bow shock at a distance of about 3 million km (1.9 million miles) from the planet. Opposite the Sun, an immense magnetotail stretches out to the orbit of Saturn, a distance of 650 million km (404 million miles), which is almost as far as Jupiter’s distance from the Sun. These dimensions make Jupiter’s magnetosphere the largest permanent structure in the solar system, dwarfing the Sun’s diameter of 1.4 million km (870,000 miles). Within this huge region, the most striking activity is generated by the moon Io, whose influence on the decametric radiation is discussed in the section above. An electric current of approximately five million amperes flows in the magnetic flux tube linking Jupiter and Io. This satellite is also the source of a toroidal cloud of ions, or plasma, that surrounds its orbit.
The energy to power this huge magnetosphere comes ultimately from the planet’s rotation, which must accordingly be slowing down at an immeasurably small rate. Charged particles such as electrons that are spiraling along the magnetic field lines are forced to move around the planet with the same speed as the field and, hence, with the rotation period of the planet itself. That is why radio astronomers on Earth were able to deduce the System III rotation period long before any spacecraft measured it directly. This trapping of charged particles by the Jovian magnetic field means that the ions shed by Io in its orbit move with the System III period of nearly 10 hours rather than the 421/2 hours that Io takes to revolve around Jupiter. Thus, Io’s plasma wake precedes the moon in its orbit about Jupiter.