Eerily Stunning Picture From a Desert Reveals a Uncommon Glimpse of Jupiter’s Halo

A surprising picture not too long ago launched by the ESO exhibits Jupiter as you have probably by no means seen it earlier than – ringed by a halo of sunshine because it shines down on the Atacama desert in Chile.

That halo is an optical phenomenon, often known as a corona. You’ve got probably seen it across the Moon, or possibly even the Solar, but it surely’s solely hardly ever seen round planets corresponding to Jupiter.

The phenomenon turns into seen when gentle from a shining object passes via Earth’s environment. If there are tiny ice crystals, or droplets of water, within the gentle’s path, they will diffract it because it passes via, making a halo.

It is a beautiful spectacle – however to not be confused with the opposite sorts of corona, as you may see beneath.

(ESO/P. Horálek)

You’ve got little doubt heard of the photo voltaic corona. It is a halo of plasma that surrounds the Solar, most seen throughout a complete photo voltaic eclipse. It extends tens of millions of kilometres into area in all instructions across the Solar.

Each star has one. The Solar’s is a effectively studied phenomenon, and it may reveal the fascinating dynamics of the photo voltaic magnetic subject, the photo voltaic wind, and even exercise on the photo voltaic floor.

Planets can have coronas too! Not like stellar coronas, they don’t seem to be made up of plasma; as a substitute, they’re the higher ranges of the planetary environment, also called the exosphere, the place the density of impartial particles is extraordinarily low.

Earth’s, for instance, is named the geocorona, and it glows in far-ultraviolet as a result of scattering of these photo voltaic rays off impartial hydrogen atoms. Mars additionally has hydrogen in its corona, along with oxygen and carbon.

Jupiter has one among these too, additionally with hydrogen. It is unlikely we would be able to see it in an optical wavelength taken from Earth’s floor, although.

Lastly, there are geological coronae. These are round or oval-shaped options within the rock on the floor of a planet, such because the Fotla Corona on Venus. As Jupiter does not have a strong floor, it does not have any of the sort of corona in any respect, so far as we all know.

You’ll be able to obtain the full-sized picture of Jupiter’s optical halo, in addition to wallpaper variations, right here.