Breaking News!! - Juno Probe sends back first home movies of Jupiter!!

[Pimander]

If the pulsing of the moons is synchronised then I would suggest it is caused by a fluctuating magnetic field. Perhaps magnetic fluorescence of the moons atmospheres or even interference with the camera.

Has this effect been observed by multiple cameras from other missions?

If the moons are pulsing out of synch then I don't have a clue.

[ArMaP]

Blinking and wobbling confirmed, trails not confirmed.

Thanks.

[A51Watcher]

If the pulsing of the moons is synchronised then I would suggest it is caused by a fluctuating magnetic field. Perhaps magnetic fluorescence of the moons atmospheres or even interference with the camera.

Has this effect been observed by multiple cameras from other missions?

If the moons are pulsing out of synch then I don't have a clue.

Yeah there does not appear to be any sync to the pulsing. quite odd.

[A51Watcher]

Blinking and wobbling confirmed, trails not confirmed.

Thanks.

Yeah I don't think anyone was confused thinking the moons were on fire. ;^)

The persistence of vision effect is quite useful in charting for heartbeat monitors and for moon's orbits as well it turns out.

Quite a huge wobble there.

Closer moons have less, outer moons have more. So as Jupiter's gravity has less hold, some other counter force is is displaying more hold.

   

[A51Watcher]

I think the  fluctuations of Callisto's magnetic field as the moon circled Jupiter, which implied there were electrical currents within the moon stimulated by the planet's magnetic field, is the best clue so far.

It's magnetic field doing battle with Jupiters is what I am looking towards.

[Pimander]

I think the  fluctuations of Callisto's magnetic field as the moon circled Jupiter, which implied there were electrical currents within the moon stimulated by the planet's magnetic field, is the best clue so far.

It's magnetic field doing battle with Jupiters is what I am looking towards.

I'd like to see whether Jupiter's rings are doing the same thing...

[ArMaP]

Yeah I don't think anyone was confused thinking the moons were on fire. ;^)

You never know, I've seen stranger opinions on the Internet.

Closer moons have less, outer moons have more. So as Jupiter's gravity has less hold, some other counter force is is displaying more hold.

I suppose the other moons can interfere with one moon's orbit, but not that much.

[Pimander]

If this can't be seen around other planets, it's worth trying to work out what makes Jupiter unique among planets....

[funbox]

If this can't be seen around other planets, it's worth trying to work out what makes Jupiter unique among planets....

has this blinking behaviour been observed from earth? has no one filmed as much footage of Jupiter from earth yet ? even a short cycle might catch dips in magnitude,


funbox

[Pimander]

has this blinking behaviour been observed from earth? has no one filmed as much footage of Jupiter from earth yet ? even a short cycle might catch dips in magnitude,

Good question.  I don't know the answer.

[funbox]

nor me , but given the amount of telescopes on the planet , you would have thought they would have tried solving the enigma of the Jovian moons of Jupiter, the orbits being a bit of a mathematicians nightmare for century's.. im thinking  huge amounts of time lapse would be useful in arranging the formula .. but then this is quite a new angle of observance

tic tic

funbox

[ArMaP]

has this blinking behaviour been observed from earth?

I doubt it, Jupiter's satellites are visible to the naked eye when Jupiter is closer to Earth.

This is a photo I took some years ago.



Edited to add that I used only my camera, no telescope.

[A51Watcher]

So here's wiki's explanation of Callistos 'orbital eccentricity' -

"Orbit and rotation

Callisto is the outermost of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. It orbits at a distance of approximately 1 880 000 km (26.3 times the 71 492 km radius of Jupiter itself).[2] This is significantly larger than the orbital radius—1 070 000 km—of the next-closest Galilean satellite, Ganymede.

As a result of this relatively distant orbit, Callisto does not participate in the mean-motion resonance—in which the three inner Galilean satellites are locked—and probably never has.[10]

Like most other regular planetary moons, Callisto's rotation is locked to be synchronous with its orbit.[3]

The length of Callisto's day, simultaneously its orbital period, is about 16.7 Earth days.

Its orbit is very slightly eccentric and inclined to the Jovian equator, with the eccentricity and inclination changing quasi-periodically due to solar and planetary gravitational perturbations on a timescale of centuries.

The ranges of change are 0.0072–0.0076 and 0.20–0.60°, respectively.[10] These orbital variations cause the axial tilt (the angle between rotational and orbital axes) to vary between 0.4 and 1.6°.[27]"

So now that we have arrived there with camera in hand, it is obvious the Callisto's orbit is much more than 'very slightly eccentric'.

Current knowledge and theories need some serious amending.

Perhaps being in the region of radial current vs direct current has some bearing on the magnetospheric output and resulting pulsing.

[zorgon]

I always liked THIS one

[A51Watcher]

I always liked THIS one

The nice thing about that graphic is it displays how thin and stretched the magnetic rubber bands have become at that point, perhaps flapping in the solar wind like a flag.