Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system, is 1,300 times the Earth's size but does not behave as it should or as scientists predict. MRI research accidentally discovered the answer as to why gas planets are magnetic.
Jupiter, a Confusing Planet
Since its discovery, Jupiter has been surprising scientists. The fifth planet from the Sun is hands down the largest planet in the solar system and is twice as massive as all the planets combined.
According to NASA, the giant planet's iconic swirls and stripes are cold, windy clouds of water and ammonia that floats in its atmosphere of hydrogen and helium. Meanwhile, the Great Red Spot is a gigantic storm that's bigger than the Earth itself, raging for hundreds of years.
Currently, NASA"s Juno Orbiter is exploring the giant planet.
Compared to Earth, Jupiter's magnetic field is 20,000 times stronger.
Hence, the question remains, how does the gas giant create strong magnetic attractions?
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Unraveling the Secrets of the Gas Planet
Professor Eduard Chekmenev, a leading MRI researcher from Wayne University, Michigan, conducted the experiments in a test tube far from space academics.
His lab is currently exploring nuclear magnetic resonance. During the tests, he noticed a particular property of dihydrogen and begun to figure out how it released energy and how it works. The findings are similar to the phenomenon observed in Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune.
According to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder. Jupiter's magnetic field is strong enough to avert solar wind 3 million kilometers before it arrives at the planet.
The magnetic field interacts with the solar wind, where Jupiter generates most of its charged particles. The particles then zip along magnetic lines and release energy all over the electromagnetic spectrum. The energy released by charged particles can be measured in different forms of light, such as x-rays, ultraviolet, gamma rays, and visible light.
The radiowaves were recently discovered from the Ganymede moon by NASA's Juno spacecraft currently exploring Jupiter.
The question now is, how do gas giants persistently create strong magnetic fields without the presence of metals?
A theory suggests that Jupiter creates enough pressure to form metallic hydrogen -- which is a phenomenon where common elements behave like a metal. It takes immense pressure and the metallic hydrogen theory to explain how gas planets such as Jupiter and Saturn emit strong magnetic fields.
On the other hand, Neptune and Uranus are undeniably smaller planets that cannot exhibit intense pressure, yet both exhibit magnetic fields.
Here is where Professor Chemenev's discovery is applicable. According to statements to ABC4, dihydrogen can exists in two forms depending on how proton nuclei are spinning.
Hence, parahydrogen can be used to induce and create larger nuclear magnetization.
"The magnetization of nuclear spins can be enhanced by many orders of magnitude, and it boosts the MRI signal. As a result, an MRI scan of highly magnetized contrasts can be accomplished in mere seconds" Chekemenev tells ABC4.
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