Some of the alleged readers of this blog might think that I chose this topic just so I could use the phrase "flux tube" over and over again. Well, these alleged readers might be right, but this is also really cool, in my opinion of god-like humility.
Io's Flux Tube
You have to look all the way down at the last paragraph in the indicated section to find what I'm talking about. I'll try to make it more simple. Io (one of the moons of Jupiter) repeatedly crosses Jupiter's magnetic field lines. The resulting "friction", so to speak, creates a very large electrical current which flows from Io to Jupiter's poles. Also, the magnetosphere of Jupiter picks up 1 tonne (2204.6226 pounds) of gas and dust from Io's thin atmosphere every second. After that it gets a bit complicated, so I'll just let you read it yourself if you're brave enough.
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Wednesday, April 1, 2009
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