jupiter has a magnetic field like earth's but 11 times stronger. it also has a "magnetosphere" much bigger and stronger than earth's. the field traps radiation belts much stronger than earth's van allen radiation belts, strong enough to endanger any spacecraft travelling past or to jupiter. the magnetic field is probably caused by the large amounts of liquid metallic hydrogen in the core of jupiter. the four largest moons of jupiter and many of the smaller ones orbit or go around the planet within the magnetic field. this protects them from the solar wind. jupiter's magnetic field is so large, it reaches the orbit of saturn 7.7 million miles (12 million km) away. the earth's magnetosphere does not even cover its moon, less than a quarter of a million miles (400,000 km) away. jupiter also experiences large aurorae, which happen when charged particles from the volcanic moon io land in its atmosphere.