Jupiter

The planet Jupiter has a strong magnetic field which traps and holds very fast moving electrons. These electrons radiate radio waves producing the large extended features beyond the planet's disk seen in the VLA picture of Jupiter. The electrons and magnetic field outside of Jupiter's atmosphere form a region very similar to the Earth's Van Allen radiation belt. Optical emission from Jupiter arises only from the planet disk itself, because the relativistic particles are not energetic enough to emit in the optical spectrum. The gas in the atmosphere of the planet itself also produces radio emission.

Observing run - 1981 May at the VLA, B-configuration using about 27 antennas. Integration time - 15 minutes.

Legacy Astronomical Images

NRAO/AUI/NSF does not hold full copyright for this image. Contact the archivist for details.

Legacy Astronomical Image

Jupiter

I. de Pater

Very Large Array (VLA)

1981-05-22

continuum

L

20 cm

1.4 GHz

RA 25:0:0.000, Dec: 0:0:0.000 (J2000)

Contact the archivist for a high resolution tif of this image.

Solar System Series

Planets Unit