"Discovery: Enormous Swirling Waves Unveiled at Jupiter's Magnetosphere Periphery"

A research team led by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) and The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) has discovered giant swirling waves, known as Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities, at the boundary between Jupiter's magnetosphere and the solar wind. These waves play a crucial role in transferring energy and mass from the solar wind to Jupiter's space environment. The findings were based on data collected by NASA's Juno spacecraft, which frequently encounters these waves during its orbits around Jupiter. The observations provide conclusive evidence of the active role played by Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities in the interaction between the solar wind and Jupiter.