Metallic Interiors and Magnetic Fields of Jupiter and Saturn
Abstract
An earlier proposal that the deep metallic interior of Jupiter is liquid is evaluated quantitatively on the basis of its recent models. It appears that the high magnetic field of this planet can be generated by a hydromagnetic-dynamo mechanism in this metallic liquid but not by a similar mechanism operating in the external molecular layer. The absence of a comparable high field on Saturn results from the expected absence of a liquid metallic interior as deduced from the same basic model and the same physicochemical considerations including diffusion and differentiation.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- June 1971
- DOI:
- 10.1086/150971
- Bibcode:
- 1971ApJ...166..435S