by The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to begin investigating the spectacular light displays of the giants in the solar system Uranus and Saturn.
Two separate teams of astronomers at the University of Leicester will use the $10-billion space telescope to study auroras over the gas giant Saturn and the frigid ice giant Uranus. The aim will be to explain in more detail the processes that create these polar light shows over different planets.
“The JWST is already changing the way we look at the universe, from the solar system, our own cosmic backyard, to the first galaxies that formed at the beginning of time,” lead author Henrik Melin from the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy . the Uranus investigation, said in a statement. “I am delighted that this amazing observatory has been given time, and these data will fundamentally shape our understanding of Saturn and Uranus.”
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Auroras are known to sky watchers on Earth as the spectacular Northern Lights and Southern Lights, which can be seen along the poles of our planet when they are visible.
These light displays over Earth are generated when charged particles streaming from the solar wind collide with our planet’s protective magnetic field, known as the magnetosphere. These particles travel down magnetic field lines and stream out behind the Earth – but, as they do so, they interact with particles in our atmosphere, creating a glowing light.
When the sun explodes a high volume of stellar plasma in so-called coronal mass ejections, auroras are more prominent and can be seen at lower latitudes above Earth.
Although auroras have been seen on other planets in the solar system before, and should be possible on almost any planet with an atmosphere and magnetic field, less is known about these exotic light shows.
Currently, little is known about the aura of Uranus, an ice giant with an atmosphere of water, ammonia and methane.
It was only last year, after twenty years of investigation, that a research team from the University of Leicester’s School of Physics and Astronomy — led by Ph.D. student Emma Thomas — confirmed an infrared aurora around Uranus.
Due to a past impact with a body around the Earth, Uranus is tilted at an angle of 97.77 degrees. This means that its poles are pointed almost directly towards and away from the sun, and its auroras are located around what would normally be the equator for a solar system planet.
As Melin and his colleagues use the JWST to study the auroras of Uranus, the seventh planet from the sun, they will investigate something that this discovery of Uranus’ auroras previously suggested: Are the auroras of this distant planet responsible? for keeping it warmer than expected?
“The temperatures of all the gas giant planets, including Uranus, are hundreds of degrees Kelvin/Celsius higher than predicted by models if they were only heated by the sun, leaving us with the big question of how these planets are much warmer than expected,” said last year. “One theory suggests that this is caused by the energetic aurora, which generates and pushes heat from the aurora down towards the magnetic equator.”
The JWST study of Uranus will begin in early 2025; it will take images of the ice giant over one day for the planet, which lasts about 17 hours on Earth. That should allow the team to map ear emissions over an entire rotation of Uranus’ magnetic field.
The scientists will also aim to find out if emissions are produced when the Uranian magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, as happens over Earth, or if interacting charged particles come from sources within the system similar to how Jupiter creates its auroras. There is also the possibility that the auroras of Uranus are created as a combination of these phenomena, just as Saturn’s auroras are generated.
The JWST Saturn aurora project, led by Center for Space Physics scientist Luke Moore, will observe the gas giant’s northern auroral region for the entire 10.6-hour Saturnian day. This will allow the team to monitor how the temperature of this region changes as the gas giant rotates.
By revealing Saturn’s atmospheric energies for the first time, the team hopes to learn more about the sources of charged particles within the gas giant’s atmosphere that drive its auroras.
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Both JWST giant planet studies will be conducted using the powerful space telescope’s highly sensitive Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument.
Once these results are in hand, scientists can gain a better understanding of the processes that create auroras in the solar system and the role of these mechanisms on Earth in particular. Perhaps the results can help astronomers gather information about auroras around planets outside the system as well: Extrasolar planets, or “exoplanets.”
“The majority of exoplanets discovered so far fall into the sub-Neptune category and are therefore physically similar in size to Neptune and Uranus. This could also involve similar magnetic and atmospheric characteristics,” Thomas said. for life.”
