Matthew Rutala

I’m a sixth-year graduate student and Ph.D. candidate in astronomy at Boston University. In my time here, I have been pursuing research with Prof. John Clarke into the mysteries of the Jovian aurorae, the intense northern and southern lights surrounding Jupiter’s poles. I primarily use observations from the Hubble Space Telescope, with the addition of data from the Galileo and Juno missions to Jupiter and models of currents flowing through Jupiter’s magnetic field, to better understand these aurorae specifically and the magnetic environment of Jupiter generally. Understanding Jupiter’s aurorae gives us insight into Jupiter’s ionosphere and magnetosphere– the region of Jupiter’s atmosphere dominated by charged particles, rather than neutral gas, and the region of space dominated by Jupiter’s magnetic field, respectively. These insights allow us to better understand planetary magnetic fields throughout the solar system (and beyond!) and allow better planning of future missions to Jupiter and other planets.

For more information, please visit: https://mjrutala.github.io/