The free screensaver, The Northern Lights of Jupiter, was created by RateMyScreensaver.com and contains 10 high resolution images. Both Jupiter and Saturn have magnetic fields much stronger than Earth`s (Uranus, Neptune and Mercury are also magnetic), and both have large radiation belts. Aurora has been observed on both, most clearly with the Hubble Space Telescope.
These auroras seem, like Earth`s, to be powered by the solar wind. In addition, however, Jupiter`s moons, especially Io, are also powerful sources of auroras. These arise from electric currents along field lines ("field aligned currents"), generated by a dynamo mechanism due to relative motion between the rotating planet and the moving moon. Io, which has active volcanism and an ionosphere, is a particularly strong source, and its currents also generate radio emissions, studied since 1955. - wiki
Screensaver Picture Count: 10
Screensaver Type: Slideshow
Credit: All images in this screensaver provided by NASA and the ESA
| Updated: | 2008-01-15 |
| License: | Free |
| Publisher: | RateMyScreensaver |
| Size: | 3.1 Mb |
| Require: | |
| System: | Win95, Win98, WinME, WinNT4x, WinXP, Win2000 |
| Language: | English |
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