X
11139 Rate this article:
5.0

A cool visualization with Object Graphics

Anonym

Peter Delamere, a research associate at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at CU-Boulder, made this visualization of plasma flow around Io, with Jupiter in the background, using IDL Object Graphics:

Plasma flow around Io

Here's Dr. Delamere's description of the visualization:

The figure illustrates the complex electrodynamic interaction of Jupiter's innermost Galilean satellite, Io, with Jupiter's magnetosphere. The moon is constantly bombarded by plasma (ionized sulfur and oxygen) flowing by at roughly 57 km/s (flow lines color coded according to flow speed), generating a few mega amps of current flowing through its atmosphere and coupling the moon to Jupiter's atmosphere. The isosurfaces show high plasma temperatures on the flanks (red), high plasma density in the equatorial region and the downstream wake (blue) due to ionization of Io's atmosphere, and magnetic field perturbations associated with the electrodynamic interaction (green).

Thanks, Peter! If you've made a cool visualization with IDL that you'd like to share, please send it to me and I'll post it.