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Giant planets are large planets, typically 10 or more times the mass of Earth, made predominantly of liquid or gas, notably hydrogen and helium. There are four giants in the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Simulations show that the competing effects of the solar wind and planetary rotation can explain the structure of planetary aurorae: the former dominates for Earth-type and the latter for Jupiter-type aurorae, with the highly variable aurorae at Saturn representing a transition state.
Simulated close encounters between planetary systems and other stars reveal that outer giant planets on wide orbits tend to be ejected, with a fraction of them forming bound pairs. This scenario would lead to a population of free-floating binary planets in dense stellar environments
An axisymmetric, equatorial jet in Jupiter’s interior has a wavelike fluctuation with a 4-year period, revealing hidden aspects of the magnetic field within the metallic hydrogen region and constraining the dynamo that generates the magnetic field.
Jets have been found in Earth’s magnetosheath for two decades and, more recently, also in Mars. Yet, their universal existence in planetary magnetosheath remains an open question. Here, authors report the presence of anti-sunward and sunward jets at Jupiter and compare them to Earth and Mars.
Experiments using high-intensity X-ray pulses incident on high-pressure hydrocarbons suggest that diamond formation can occur at shallower depths in icy planets and may play a role in the internal convection that generates their magnetic fields.
At high pressures, water and ammonia are known to exhibit superionic states. Here it is shown that many planetary ices (H-C-N-O compounds) exhibit a superionic state, and in some cases, a doubly superionic state, in which multiple elements diffuse simultaneously.
Measurements of Jupiter’s gravity by the Juno mission have established that the winds extend 3,500 kilometres below the surface. Cylindrically oriented zonal flows provide the best match in a new model using gravity harmonics up to degree 40.
JWST observations of Jupiter reveal a narrow and intense atmospheric jet at the equator of the planet, close to its tropopause. The jet is manifest in the fast motions of equatorial hazes and is most likely a deep counterpart of the equatorial oscillations observed in Jupiter’s stratosphere.