JUPITER sprinkles Earth with electrons that reach down to altitudes of just a
few hundred kilometres, scientists said this week at a meeting of the American
Geophysical Union in San Francisco.
Using NASA satellites, Daniel Baker of the University of Colorado and his
colleagues studied high-energy electrons in the Earth鈥檚 magnetosphere. They
found the numbers were usually highest when the Sun sent fast particles our
way.
The number also surged every 13 months when Jupiter, the Earth and Sun were
in line. The team says Jupiter鈥檚 magnetic field accelerates particles, which
come to Earth at nearly the speed of light. 鈥淛upiter is a powerful accelerator,鈥�
says Baker.
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