Exploring the Giant Planet Energy Crisis with JWST

与 JWST 一起探索巨大的行星能源危机

• 批准号: ST/W001527/1
• 负责人: Henrik Melin
• 金额: $ 60.71万
• 依托单位: University of Leicester
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Fellowship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FW001527%2F1
• 关键词: Exploring; Giant; Planet; Energy; Crisis

The giant planets, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, have always provided a source of both awe and inspiration. Our first close-up glimpses of these systems came from early spacecrafts such as the Pioneers and the Voyagers over 40 years ago, revealing planets that were positively nothing like the Earth. These great spheres of dense gas showed intricate and violent cloud structures, with each planet having more moons than there are planets in the solar system. The upper atmosphere of these planets contain the interface between the planet and the surrounding space environment, with the charged particle ionosphere being the all important conduit that 'feels' the magnetic field. This is a critical region, because it is here that energy is exchanged via the powerful auroral process, producing stunning displays of light about the magnetic poles. From ground-based observations we can measure the global temperature of the upper atmosphere of the giant planets, and we find that they are much hotter than our models of this region predict. This is a decades-old and a major outstanding question in planetary science and has been dramatically named the 'energy crisis'. Two solutions to this puzzling problem have been proposed. Firstly the aurora can inject significant amounts of energy at the poles, but since these planets are spinning on their axis much faster than the Earth, there are forces that appear to prohibit the movement of this energy down towards the equator. Secondly, the dramatic turbulence that we see in images of theses planets generate waves that can travel up in altitude and break and release their energy in the upper atmosphere, heating it in the process. Up until now, we have not had the high fidelity data needed to test these theories, and to solve this crisis. This is what this Fellowship programme sets out to do. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a collaboration between American, European, and Canadian space-agencies, is the most powerful telescope ever constructed, and it will be launched from French Guiana on a European rocket in October 2021. Since the telescope is situated in deep space, far away from the Earth's atmosphere, and because the instruments are incredibly sensitive, the facility will provide completely new views of the universe, from our own solar system to the very early universe. A number of observations have already been planned with JWST, and those include observations of Jupiter and Uranus that I have closely been involved in the development of. These will be unlike anything achievable with telescopes on the ground at Earth, and will provide an incredibly detailed view of the atmospheres of these planets, and an opportunity to once and for all address the energy crisis. This research programme will use two of JWST's instruments - the Mid Infrared Instrument (MIRI), build in the UK with significant involvement by the University of Leicester, and the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), led by the European Space Agency. By combining data from both instruments, we can capture light from the entire atmosphere, from the deep turbulent base of the atmosphere, all the way up to the upper atmosphere and the ionosphere. The analysis of these data will reveal how energy is transported within and between atmospheric layers, and I will directly test the two proposed solutions to the energy crisis. By observing the atmospheres of both Jupiter and Uranus, we get views of energy transport at both a Gas Giant and an Ice Giant, two different classes of planet that may indeed offer two different solutions to the crisis. Most of the planets discovered outside our solar system share many characteristics with either Jupiter and Uranus, and applying what we learn from this programme can significantly further our understanding of planets orbiting other stars.

巨大的行星，木星，土星，天王星和海王星，总是提供了敬畏和灵感的来源。我们对这些系统的第一次近距离一瞥来自40多年前的早期航天器，如先驱者号和旅行者号，揭示了与地球完全不同的行星。这些巨大的致密气体球体显示出复杂而猛烈的云结构，每个行星的卫星比太阳系中的行星还要多。这些行星的上层大气包含行星与周围空间环境之间的界面，带电粒子电离层是“感受”磁场的所有重要管道。这是一个关键区域，因为正是在这里，能量通过强大的极光过程进行交换，在磁极周围产生令人惊叹的光。通过地面观测，我们可以测量巨行星高层大气的全球温度，我们发现它们比我们对该地区的模型预测的要热得多。这是一个几十年前的问题，也是行星科学中一个重大的悬而未决的问题，并被戏剧性地命名为“能源危机”。对于这个令人困惑的问题，人们提出了两种解决办法。首先，极光可以在两极注入大量的能量，但由于这些行星绕轴旋转的速度比地球快得多，因此似乎有力量阻止这种能量向赤道移动。其次，我们在这些行星的图像中看到的剧烈湍流产生的波可以在高度上传播，并在高层大气中分解和释放能量，在此过程中加热它。到目前为止，我们还没有测试这些理论和解决这场危机所需的高保真数据。这就是本研究金方案要做的。詹姆斯韦伯太空望远镜（JWST）是美国，欧洲和加拿大航天机构之间的合作，是有史以来最强大的望远镜，它将于2021年10月从法属圭亚那发射欧洲火箭。由于该望远镜位于深空，远离地球大气层，并且由于仪器非常敏感，该设施将提供从我们自己的太阳系到早期宇宙的全新宇宙视图。JWST已经计划了许多观测，其中包括我密切参与开发的木星和天王星的观测。这将不同于地球上的望远镜所能实现的任何东西，并将提供这些行星大气层的令人难以置信的详细视图，以及一劳永逸地解决能源危机的机会。这项研究计划将使用JWST的两个仪器-中红外仪器（MIRI），在英国建造，由莱斯特大学参与，以及近红外光谱仪（NIRSpec），由欧洲航天局领导。通过结合这两种仪器的数据，我们可以捕获整个大气层的光，从大气层的深层湍流底部，一直到高层大气和电离层。对这些数据的分析将揭示能量是如何在大气层内和大气层之间传输的，我将直接测试针对能源危机提出的两种解决方案。通过观察木星和天王星的大气层，我们可以看到气体巨星和冰巨星的能量传输，这两种不同类型的行星可能确实为危机提供了两种不同的解决方案。太阳系外发现的大多数行星与木星和天王星有许多共同的特征，应用我们从这个计划中学到的知识可以大大加深我们对绕其他恒星运行的行星的理解。

项目成果

Investigating Thermal Contrasts Between Jupiter's Belts, Zones, and Polar Vortices With VLT/VISIR

使用 VLT/VISIR 研究木星带、区域和极涡之间的热对比

• DOI: 10.1029/2023je007902
• 发表时间: 2024
• 期刊: Planets
• 作者: Bardet D

Jupiter's Multi-Year Cycles of Temperature and Aerosol Variability From Ground-Based Mid-Infrared Imaging

来自地面中红外成像的木星温度和气溶胶变化的多年周期

• DOI: 10.1029/2022je007693
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Planets
• 作者: Antuñano A

Detection of the infrared aurora at Uranus with Keck-NIRSPEC

使用 Keck-NIRSPEC 检测天王星的红外极光

• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02096-5
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Nature Astronomy
• 影响因子: 14.1
• 作者: Thomas E

Custom JWST NIRSpec/IFU and MIRI/MRS Data Reduction Pipelines for Solar System Targets

用于太阳能系统目标的定制 JWST NIRSpec/IFU 和 MIRI/MRS 数据缩减管道

• DOI: 10.3847/2515-5172/ad045f
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Research Notes of the AAS
• 作者: King O

An intense narrow equatorial jet in Jupiter's lower stratosphere observed by JWST

JWST 观测到木星平流层下部强烈狭窄的赤道急流

• DOI: 10.1038/s41550-023-02099-2
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Nature Astronomy
• 影响因子: 14.1
• 作者: Hueso R