December 2019, ScientificAmerican.com 73CLOSER TO HOME
AS WELL AS FINDING distant supermassive black holes
and clusters of galaxies, Chandra has made amazing dis-
coveries within our solar system. These images of Jupiter
show x-ray emission from the aurorae at both the north ( 1 )
and south ( 2 ) poles of the planet, a feature unique among
the worlds in our solar system. The x-rays are thought to
be generated when magnetic fields funnel particles from
the equatorial ring around Jupiter. Chandra observations
in 2019, coordinated with nasa’s Juno satellite, which is
currently orbiting Jupiter, are expected to provide detailed
information on this process. As director, I have been able
to facilitate some of these observations by allocating
Director’s Discretionary Time toward this study.
X-RAY: NASA, CXC, UCL AND W. DUNN ET AL.; OPTICAL: SOUTH POLE: NASA, JPL-CALTECH, SWRI, MSSS,
GERALD EICHSTÄDT AND SEÁN DORAN; NORTH POLE: NASA, JPL-CALTECH, SWRI AND MSSS12© 2019 Scientific American