Juno observations reveal complex solar wind shocks at Jupiter
University of Iowa researchers identified waves at multiple frequencies and smaller shock structures that help slow incoming solar particles.
Jupiter slows and heats particles arriving from the Sun through a more complex combination of plasma waves and shock structures than Earth does, according to research led by University of Iowa scientists using NASA’s Juno spacecraft. The findings draw on measurements collected in December 2024.
The team studied Jupiter’s bow shock, the boundary where the solar wind meets the planet’s magnetic environment. Researchers found waves operating at several frequencies, known as harmonics, which allow energy to be transferred to more incoming particles. At Earth, the corresponding waves are mainly concentrated near one frequency.
The observations also revealed smaller structures called shocklets that particles can encounter before reaching the main boundary. These help slow the solar wind in advance, the researchers said. Bill Kurth, a study coauthor and research scientist at Iowa, said the less powerful impact at Earth does not require those additional steps.
The Juno Waves instrument, built and designed by Iowa physicists, measures electric and magnetic wave activity. The findings appeared online in Nature Communications on July 31. Corresponding author Jayasri Joseph, an Iowa postdoctoral researcher, said Jupiter offers a nearby setting for investigating energy-transfer processes relevant to much stronger shocks around supernova remnants. NASA funded the research.
