What did scientists discover about early Jupiter?
A new study reveals that early Jupiter was twice its current size and had a magnetic field 50 times stronger than it does today.
Published in Nature Astronomy, the research by Konstantin Batygin (Caltech) and Fred C. Adams (University of Michigan) dives into Jupiter’s formative years — just 3.8 million years after the first solids formed in the Solar System.
By analyzing the orbits of Jupiter’s inner moons — Amalthea and Thebe — the scientists reconstructed the planet’s ancient mass and radius. Their calculations suggest that young Jupiter could have had a volume equal to over 2,000 Earths and a magnetic force that reshaped the early protoplanetary disk around the Sun.
This insight helps refine our understanding of how the Solar System was sculpted, as Jupiter’s gravity played a pivotal role in the positioning of other planets.
“We’re trying to answer where we come from,” said Batygin. “To do that, we need to understand the earliest phases of planet formation.”
