# Better understanding of the “Rivers of metallic hydrogen” in the atmosphere of Jupiter?

Between 03:00 and 05:00 in the BBC's radio program Giant hurricanes at Jupiter’s poles, BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos summarizes the result of higher than expected multipole intensity of Juno's magnetic field measurements during close passes of the planet, and agrees with the paraphrasing of the potential source of the planet's magnetic field as:

...'rivers of metallic hydrogen' in the atmosphere of Jupiter...

Question: How close of an analogy is this, given what was actually measured? And for that matter, could someone describe what was actually measured? Was it a localized "blip" or does this really show up in the multipole expansion of Jupiter's entire planetary field?

There is a bit more in the BBC's Juno peers below Jupiter's clouds (written by Jonathan Amos), and probably much more in the articles just published in Science Jupiter’s interior and deep atmosphere: The initial pole-to-pole passes with the Juno spacecraft and also Jupiter’s magnetosphere and aurorae observed by the Juno spacecraft during its first polar orbits.

below: From here.

• Surely this is an astronomy question and might get more response on the astronomy stack exchange – Steve Linton Mar 11 '18 at 10:18
• @SteveLinton Sometimes it's a tough call, but not this time. This is a question specifically about the "higher than expected multipole intensity of Juno's magnetic field measurements during close passes of the planet. Juno is a spacecraft which is performing Space Exploration, the name of this site. There are currently 52 other questions here about Juno. I'm not asking what Jupiter is like, I'm asking for a better characterization of the measurements performed by the spacecraft. – uhoh Mar 11 '18 at 10:45
• @SteveLinton I also re-read and then edited the question to make sure this was clear as part of the decision to add the bounty. fyi there are only 3 questions about Juno in Astronomy SE, and only 2 have answers; until about 10 hours ago it was only 1! (1, 2, 3) ;-) – uhoh Mar 11 '18 at 10:57
• What is your actual question? – anon Aug 17 '18 at 18:52
• @uhoh I really dont want to dig up the math to support that which is why I didnt answer, I thought it was known though. Anyways, it was within the last decade discovered that at incredibly high pressures, hydrogen transfers from a plasma state to state where it takes on metallic like properties. In this state it becomes very conductive and capable of creating magnetic fields. It is also fluid hence where the statement of "rivers of metallic hydrogen" comes from. Though it would be more akin to rivers of magma in the Earth's core than a river of water. – anon Aug 17 '18 at 21:09