"The Gas Giant Puzzle"
Posted on 20 Aug 2026 @ 8:48pm by Lieutenant Commander Steven Remington
749 words; about a 4 minute read
Mission:
The Doldrums
Location: Science Department - Arawyn
// Science Department //
Steve’s primary Planetary Scientist was Lieutenant Randolph Smithers. Smithers laid the PaDD on Steve’s desk and took a seat in the chair pulled up close to the desk.
“It started out pretty confusing, but I think we are separated now into manageable options,” Smithers said. “This planet is several time the mass of Jupiter. Atmosphere is hydrogen and helium, with traces of methane, ammonia, water vapor and some complex compounds buried under those clouds. That’s not extraordinary. But, the magnetic field is another matter.
“The magnetosphere extends millions of kilometers into space and is distorted, compressed if you will, on the star side by the stellar wind and there’s a magnificent magnetic tail dragging behind it beyond the planet, which makes the radiation environment of the inner moons decidedly unpleasant. When there’s a flare on the star, it hits that magnetosphere and the whole planetary field feels the impact, compressing the magnetic lines of the planet and when that springs back, energy races inward along those lines toward the poles.”
The image on the PaDD showed another aurora ribbons of bright white-blue, then a second. A narrow arc of light appeared much closer to the equator and spread across the upper atmosphere.
Steve hit reply and watched the event a second time. “That’s definitely not a polar aurora. What is it?”
“When the computer traces it backward, it’s not from the star. It’s from one of the moons. That moon has a disproportionately large metallic core and has a magnetic field of its own, far stronger than a moon of its size should be able to maintain. And it is interacting direction with the planet,” explained Smithers.
A bright stream of ionized material extended between the moon and the planet, following the magnetic field of the planet like a current through an invisible wire. Another line appeared, and yet another.
“What’s going on here? I thought there were two moons,” queried Steve.
“There are four, at least four, orbital objects, natural objects, and they are each reacting differently the magnetosphere. One supplies ionized material, another draws particles from the radiation belts, another is generating an enormous current along the field lines, which is causing the displaced aurora we observed. The fourth was can’t explain … yet.
“Each time the fourth one travels through the strongest regions of the planet’s magnetic field, the radio spectrum changes. Not a lot, but predictably,” said Smithers.
“And?” Steve prompted. “That’s coming from the moon… sorry orbital object?”
“Possibly.”
“Thanks for the scientific answer there, Smithers,” said Steve.
“The computer indicates low-frequency radio bursts from the planet are common, and a planet of this size could produce them naturally. But these emissions are in clusters associated with the positions of the moons,” Smithers went on.
“Natural?”
“Everything we’re seeing has a plausible natural mechanism, but, the mechanisms don’t explain why they are synchronized.” Smithers let that sit.
Steve moved the information on the PaDD to his holographic display system. “So, the star, young and hot is throwing off frequent, highly charged particles and instead of the usual noise in the system, some of them strengthen the pattern. The star disturbed the magnetosphere, the magnetosphere affects the moons, which alter the flow of charged particles, which are fed back into the plant’s magnetic environment, and every so often the entire system appears to fall briefly into resonance?”
“Yes, for 11 seconds, the oscillations match frequency,” Smithers completed the scenario. “And during those 11 seconds, the radio emissions increase by nearly 600%. Then it all collapses and begins to rebuild.”
“That, I believe, is something we have never seen or recorded before,” Steve said with enthusiasm. "How long to rebuild?”
“Assuming the stellar winds remain within current parameters, 02:17:43.
“Two hours.” Steve paused. “And if the winds change?”
“Could be several days. We don’t have enough historical data yet to take predictions out beyond this prediction.”
“Ok, we hold on the probes. We shouldn’t introduce anything into the environment until we’ve observed one of these events from beginning to end. I’ll contact the Captain, Collingway and Ops. Record everything. Let me know if anything changes, particularly those stellar winds.”
“Aye aye, Sir,” replied Smithers, satisfied with himself for bringing something compelling to the attention of his superior and ultimately to Captain Corbin,
~~~
LtCmdr Steve Remington
Chief Science Officer
USS Arawyn
&
Lieutenant Randy Smithers
Planetary Science
USS Arawyn
(npc apb Kate)
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