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A good friend can make all the difference. I just need to find one.

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Incoming! We’ve Got Science from Jupiter!

Our Juno spacecraft has just released some exciting new science from its first close flyby of Jupiter! 

In case you don’t know, the Juno spacecraft entered orbit around the gas giant on July 4, 2016…about a year ago. Since then, it has been collecting data and images from this unique vantage point.

Juno is in a polar orbit around Jupiter, which means that the majority of each orbit is spent well away from the gas giant. But once every 53 days its trajectory approaches Jupiter from above its north pole, where it begins a close two-hour transit flying north to south with its eight science instruments collecting data and its JunoCam camera snapping pictures.

Space Fact: The download of six megabytes of data collected during the two-hour transit can take one-and-a-half days!

Juno and her cloud-piercing science instruments are helping us get a better understanding of the processes happening on Jupiter. These new results portray the planet as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world that we still need to study and unravel its mysteries.

So what did this first science flyby tell us? Let’s break it down…

1. Tumultuous Cyclones

Juno’s imager, JunoCam, has showed us that both of Jupiter’s poles are covered in tumultuous cyclones and anticyclone storms, densely clustered and rubbing together. Some of these storms as large as Earth!

These storms are still puzzling. We’re still not exactly sure how they formed or how they interact with each other. Future close flybys will help us better understand these mysterious cyclones. 

Seen above, waves of clouds (at 37.8 degrees latitude) dominate this three-dimensional Jovian cloudscape. JunoCam obtained this enhanced-color picture on May 19, 2017, at 5:50 UTC from an altitude of 5,500 miles (8,900 kilometers). Details as small as 4 miles (6 kilometers) across can be identified in this image.

An even closer view of the same image shows small bright high clouds that are about 16 miles (25 kilometers) across and in some areas appear to form “squall lines” (a narrow band of high winds and storms associated with a cold front). On Jupiter, clouds this high are almost certainly comprised of water and/or ammonia ice.

2. Jupiter’s Atmosphere

Juno’s Microwave Radiometer is an instrument that samples the thermal microwave radiation from Jupiter’s atmosphere from the tops of the ammonia clouds to deep within its atmosphere.

Data from this instrument suggest that the ammonia is quite variable and continues to increase as far down as we can see with MWR, which is a few hundred kilometers. In the cut-out image below, orange signifies high ammonia abundance and blue signifies low ammonia abundance. Jupiter appears to have a band around its equator high in ammonia abundance, with a column shown in orange.

Why does this ammonia matter? Well, ammonia is a good tracer of other relatively rare gases and fluids in the atmosphere…like water. Understanding the relative abundances of these materials helps us have a better idea of how and when Jupiter formed in the early solar system.

This instrument has also given us more information about Jupiter’s iconic belts and zones. Data suggest that the belt near Jupiter’s equator penetrates all the way down, while the belts and zones at other latitudes seem to evolve to other structures.

3. Stronger-Than-Expected Magnetic Field

Prior to Juno, it was known that Jupiter had the most intense magnetic field in the solar system…but measurements from Juno’s magnetometer investigation (MAG) indicate that the gas giant’s magnetic field is even stronger than models expected, and more irregular in shape.

At 7.766 Gauss, it is about 10 times stronger than the strongest magnetic field found on Earth! What is Gauss? Magnetic field strengths are measured in units called Gauss or Teslas. A magnetic field with a strength of 10,000 Gauss also has a strength of 1 Tesla.  

Juno is giving us a unique view of the magnetic field close to Jupiter that we’ve never had before. For example, data from the spacecraft (displayed in the graphic above) suggests that the planet’s magnetic field is “lumpy”, meaning its stronger in some places and weaker in others. This uneven distribution suggests that the field might be generated by dynamo action (where the motion of electrically conducting fluid creates a self-sustaining magnetic field) closer to the surface, above the layer of metallic hydrogen. Juno’s orbital track is illustrated with the black curve. 

4. Sounds of Jupiter

Juno also observed plasma wave signals from Jupiter’s ionosphere. This movie shows results from Juno’s radio wave detector that were recorded while it passed close to Jupiter. Waves in the plasma (the charged gas) in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter have different frequencies that depend on the types of ions present, and their densities. 

Mapping out these ions in the jovian system helps us understand how the upper atmosphere works including the aurora. Beyond the visual representation of the data, the data have been made into sounds where the frequencies and playback speed have been shifted to be audible to human ears.

5. Jovian “Southern Lights”

The complexity and richness of Jupiter’s “southern lights” (also known as auroras) are on display in this animation of false-color maps from our Juno spacecraft. Auroras result when energetic electrons from the magnetosphere crash into the molecular hydrogen in the Jovian upper atmosphere. The data for this animation were obtained by Juno’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph. 

During Juno’s next flyby on July 11, the spacecraft will fly directly over one of the most iconic features in the entire solar system – one that every school kid knows – Jupiter’s Great Red Spot! If anybody is going to get to the bottom of what is going on below those mammoth swirling crimson cloud tops, it’s Juno.

Stay updated on all things Juno and Jupiter by following along on social media: Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Tumblr

Learn more about the Juno spacecraft and its mission at Jupiter HERE.

[allthingsaretemporary]

I love you.

[allthingsaretemporary]

Why am I so drawn to you? I haven’t seen you or talked to you in ages but I can’t stop this feeling.

[allthingsaretemporary]

I hereby do solemnly pledge not to praise or criticize books I have not read.

[allthingsaretemporary]

Just so we’re all clear, it is okay to miss people you no longer want in your life.

[allthingsaretemporary]

Fast food workers in NY just won a $15/hr wage. I’m a paramedic. My job requires a broad set of skills: interpersonal, medical, and technical skills, as well as the crucial skill of performing under pressure. I often make decisions on my own, in seconds, under chaotic circumstances, that impact people’s health and lives. I make $15/hr. And these burger flippers think they deserve as much as me? Good for them. Look, if any job is going to take up someone’s life, it deserves a living wage. If a job exists and you have to hire someone to do it, they deserve a living wage. End of story. There’s a lot of talk going around my workplace along the lines of, “These guys with no education and no skills think they deserve as much as us? Fuck those guys.” And elsewhere on FB: “I’m a licensed electrician, I make $13/hr, fuck these burger flippers.” And that’s exactly what the bosses want! They want us fighting over who has the bigger pile of crumbs so we don’t realize they made off with almost the whole damn cake. Why are you angry about fast food workers making two bucks more an hour when your CEO makes four hundred TIMES what you do? It’s in the bosses’ interests to keep your anger directed downward, at the poor people who are just trying to get by, like you, rather than at the rich assholes who consume almost everything we produce and give next to nothing for it. My company, as they’re so fond of telling us in boosterist emails, cleared 1.3 billion dollars last year. They expect guys supporting families on 26-27k/year to applaud that. And that’s to say nothing of the techs and janitors and cashiers and bed pushers who make even less than us, but are as absolutely crucial to making a hospital work as the fucking CEO or the neurosurgeons. Can they pay us more? Absolutely. But why would they? No one’s making them. The workers in NY *made* them. They fought for and won a living wage. So how incredibly petty and counterproductive is it to fuss that their pile of crumbs is bigger than ours? Put that energy elsewhere. Organize. Fight. Win.

Jens Rushing  (via albinwonderland)

This times infinity.

(via dresdencodak)

[allthingsaretemporary]

Realistically there is no chance I will have time to read, Imma still bring a book though

[allthingsaretemporary]

anakin skywalker does not use jedi mind tricks 

not once in the films 

do you think that’s a coincidence 

not on your life buddy 

anakin skywalker does not have it in him to overrule another being’s free will

[allthingsaretemporary]

When you’re browsing through good pixiv artists and see a pic of your waifu

[allthingsaretemporary]

I’m really bad at texting unless I’m in love with you

[allthingsaretemporary]

Will you and John Green really be racing at Nerdcon? If so how do you suppose it will play out?

Dear skylarscharrer,

It is true that fishingboatproceeds challenged me to a public drag race at NerdCon in Minneapolis in October. He has procured a Tesla for this purpose, which is not, as you might think, a peculiar dead genius but rather a very speedy electric car. Very speedy. 

I have selected the speediest of my cars for this purpose, my Evo, which is not, as you might think, Extra Virgin Olives, but rather an all-wheel drive Mitsubishi. 

It is speedier than my Datsun merely by virtue of actually running and it is speedier than my Camaro through a series of modifications already performed on its willing body, but here is the thing: John Green’s Tesla is both electric and an automatic. All he has to do is put his foot to the floor, and immediately his car will roar hiss to crazy speed. My car is gas and a manual, which means I will have to run it through the gears to hit my top speed. Also, John Green said he was thinking of getting a Secret Special Tesla for the event, which I think we all agree is cheating. Although I have many hours logged on race tracks and in rally, which is perhaps also cheating. 

In any case, I have taken the liberty of setting up a complete engine swap and rebuild to put in 300 or 400 more horsepower over the next two months. It’s going to be a beast, unless it explodes.  

His car may yet be faster off the line, but my car has a higher top speed already and I have no discernible sense of fear. 

How will it play out? I don’t know, but at the very least it should be entertaining for the spectators. 

urs,

Stiefvater

[allthingsaretemporary]

Useless driver, we use him only for testing caravans. 

[allthingsaretemporary]

Texas’ new American history text books won’t include:

The Ku Klux Klan

Jim Crow Laws

The primary role of slavery in the Civil War

And that’s just the beginning. Facts on segregation are almost completely missing. All of this is, of course, by design.

[allthingsaretemporary]

Was the Civil War about Slavery?

After earlier seeing this story about many U.S. history textbooks no longer citing slavery as the primary cause of the American Civil War, Rosianna and I were inspired to create a web site, wasthecivilwaraboutslavery.com.

(You can scroll down on the site for more info.)

[allthingsaretemporary]

A dark day today. 4 million Syrians are now refugees. Amazing people across the world are asking how they can help. This is what you can do: Keep the issue alive – talk about refugees at home, in your classroom, your community, your church, your work. Encourage understanding and empathy. And please join UNHCR in giving a vital lifeline to Syrian refugees living below the abject poverty line in Jordan. The smallest support can help keep a family safe and alive: http://rfg.ee/Po4B0