dynamo tagged posts

Different stars can exhibit different levels of activity. The Sun’s signs of solar activity are rather feeble on an astronomical scale. Other stars are up to ten times more active. While researchers have identified the magnetic fields generated in the interior of stars in a dynamo process as drivers of activity, the exact workings of this dynamo are unclear. Scientists now find that a common, turbulence-dependent dynamo mechanism plays a crucial role for stellar activity in all stages of stellar evolution.

In their interiors, stars are structured in a layered, onion-like fashion. In those with solar-like temperatures, the core is followed by the radiation zone...

1. The SwRI-led Juno mission discovered that Jupiter’s signature bands disappear near its poles. This JunoCam image, processed by citizen scientist Bruce Lemons, show a chaotic scene of swirling storms up to the size of Mars against a bluish backdrop.
Credit Line: Image Courtesy of NASA/SwRI
2. The SwRI-led UVS spectrograph images Jupiter’s massive auroras. Collected during Juno’s third orbit around the gas giant, this false-color image is inset with an image of Earth’s south pole aurora, approximately to scale, collected September 11, 2005. The streaky colors away from the Jovian auroral region are associated with penetrating electrons.

King of the planets even more exotic than expected. NASA’s Juno mission, led by Southwest Research Institute’s Dr...