Solar bursts squished Jupiter’s magnetic shield, left half of the planet scorching hot-

In a first, scientists have discovered a massive wave of solar wind that hit Jupiter and compressed its protective bubble.

A solar wind event in 2017 struck Jupiter’s magnetosphere, generating an expansive hot region that covered half the planet’s circumference.

This surge in heat pushed temperatures beyond 500°C, far exceeding the usual atmospheric background of 350°C.

“The solar wind squished Jupiter’s magnetic shield like a giant squash ball. This created a super-hot region that spans half the planet,” James O’Donoghue, lead author of the research at the University of Reading, said in a release.

Scientists now believe that solar bursts hit Jupiter two to three times a month.

However, this is the first time they have captured Jupiter’s response to solar wind before the impact. “The way it changed the planet’s atmosphere was very unexpected,” O’Donoghue said.

How the solar burst affected Jupiter

To understand this phenomenon, scientists combined data from the Keck telescope, NASA’s Juno spacecraft, and solar wind models. They found that a dense region of solar wind had compressed Jupiter’s magnetosphere just before the observations began.

This compression increased auroral heating at the poles, causing the upper atmosphere to expand and send hot gas toward the equator.

“Typically, temperatures decrease gradually toward the equator, reflecting how auroral energy is redistributed across the planet,” the team said in their paper.

As “there are no known heating mechanisms capable of producing a feature with these temperatures outside of the auroral region,” they proposed that the superheated region was likely “launched” toward the equator from the poles.

Scientists had previously thought that Jupiter’s powerful polar auroras confined auroral heating to the poles through strong winds.

However, this discovery challenges that idea.

Jupiter’s auroras are similar to those on Earth, which form when energetic particles interact with the planet’s magnetic field.

However, Jupiter’s auroras are believed to follow a different process and are far more intense and powerful.

The findings suggest that planetary atmospheres across the solar system may be more affected by solar activity than previously thought.

Solar bursts could drastically change the upper atmosphere of large planets, creating global winds that spread energy across the planet.

Implications for space weather forecasting

Professor Mathew Owens, a co-author of the research, highlighted the significance of the study in improving space weather predictions.

“Our solar wind model correctly predicted when Jupiter’s atmosphere would be disturbed. This helps us further understand the accuracy of our forecasting systems, which is essential for protecting Earth from dangerous space weather.”

The researchers noted that Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system, acts as a natural laboratory to study how the sun affects planets in general.

“By watching what happens there, we can better predict and understand the effects of solar storms, which might disrupt GPS, communications, and power grids on Earth,” O’Donoghue explained.

The study has been published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.