After this many years of writing the Simple Explanation blog, what can I say here other than, "Hey! Look at that torus they're calling Jupiter!"
Scientists have known for a few decades that the upper atmosphere of Jupiter is hundreds of degrees warmer than expected. Now they are offering an explanation that looks suspiciously like another planetary torus has been discovered.
Using Hawaii's Keck 2 telescope, scientists looked for positively charged hydrogen particles in Jupiter's atmosphere. They found a ring around the north and south poles and particles coming in (they assume) [or going out, I would conjecture], as well as waves of heat cascading down the outside of the planet. Yes, it can be explained by the way they conjecture the mechanism, or could be explained by the Simple Explanation's toroidal core theory of planetary development. The official imagery certainly implies that as a possible mechanism. We'll await further proof at some later date.
Meanwhile, here's the link to the original article.
Jupiter’s magnetic field lines (blue) steer charged particles in the solar wind toward
the planet’s poles, generating auroras (white) similar to Earth’s. High-altitude winds
then carry heat (red) from the auroras toward Jupiter’s equator, warming the planet’s
upper atmosphere, as shown in this artist’s illustration, which overlays a visible
light image of the planet.
J. O'DONOGHUE/JAXA, HUBBLE/NASA, ESA, A. SIMON, J. SCHMIDT
J. O’Donoghue et al. Global upper-atmospheric heating on Jupiter by the polar aurorae. Nature. Vol. 596, August 5, 2021, p. 54. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03706-w.
