In the summer of 2023, astronomers detected plasma flows in the magnetosphere of another planet, Mars, for the first time. Now, scientists analyzing data collected by Voyager 2 have confirmed the existence of such jets on another planet of the Solar System.

Without the magnetic field, the impact of charged cosmic particles, including the solar wind, would be devastating for life on our planet. However, they change direction thanks to the field. The region “inside” this collision line is called the magnetosphere, and the transition region is called the magnetosphere.

In the highly turbulent conditions of the magnetosphere, denser and faster plasma jets often form, triggering “waves” that propagate throughout the magnetosphere. At first, such jets were noticed during experiments in laboratories, and in the 1990s they were detected on the outskirts of the Earth.

Over the past quarter-century, researchers have taken a good look at the properties of jets in Earth’s magnetosphere, but doubts remain about whether such jets can arise in the weaker magnetic fields of other planets. In 2016, astronomers identified jet-like structures in Mercury’s magnetic field.

In 2023, astronomers confirmed the existence of such jets on Mars. And now the largest planets of the Solar System have been added to this list. In the magazine Nature Communication A study has been published in which scientists from China and the USA describe magnetospheric plasma flows on Jupiter. They also managed to find a potential jet of Saturn observation data.

The authors of the new study used data from Voyager 2, the only spacecraft to pass through the solar region of Jupiter’s magnetosphere, to study Jupiter. They obtained preliminary results about Saturn from Cassini observations. After comparing the data, scientists concluded that such plasma jets are likely universal and form in the magnetospheres of other planets in the Solar System.

Earth’s plasma flows must be studied to better understand space weather and how it may affect our artificial satellites. It turns out that in the case of powerful planets, these plasma flows can also affect the natural satellites of the planets.

According to theoretical calculations, these jets should be much stronger on Jupiter and Saturn. Thus, the orbit of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, passes near the magnetosphere boundary, and the satellite can suddenly pass through the magnetosphere and destroy its own magnetic field. Of course, the impact on satellites is not the only consequence of the formation of plasma flows.

Shock acceleration is one of the main sources of high-energy particles in the universe. At the same time, as the authors of the study note, many relevant phenomena remain unexplored. For this, it is necessary to collect sufficient observation data from different planets and perform comparative analysis. Unfortunately, researchers today do not have many opportunities to collect this type of data.

Despite the numerous space missions aimed at studying Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mercury, the characteristics of the orbits of the devices and the limited capabilities of the devices will not allow the collection of the necessary data. So far, such a database is only available from Mars.