News in Brief Planetary Science

Jupiter’s magnetic field is surprisingly weird

NASA’s Juno spacecraft reveals unusual magnetism that suggests a convoluted interior

Jupiter's magnetic field illustration

HIDDEN DEPTHS  Beneath Jupiter’s clouds, the planet’s magnetic field (illustrated) behaves differently in the northern and southern hemispheres.

JPL/NASA

By Christopher Crockett

- More than 2 years ago

If Earth’s magnetic field resembles that of a bar magnet, Jupiter’s field looks like someone took a bar magnet, bent it in half and splayed it at both ends.