NASA scientists saw thorugh thick clouds of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot to find water
Jupiter and its Great Red Spot — a storm that has been raging on the gas giant for over 350 years — have always been at the centre of attraction for scientists. And this time, NASA’s scientists peered deep inside it to detect signs of water above the planet’s deepest clouds.
Researchers claim that the pressure of the water combined with their measurements of carbon monoxide (another oxygen-bearing gas) imply that Jupiter has two to nine times more oxygen than the sun.
The findings, published in the Astronomical Journal, support theoretical and computer-simulation models that have predicted abundant water on Jupiter.
The revelation was stirring given that the team’s experiment could have easily failed. The Great Red Spot is full of dense clouds, which makes it hard for electromagnetic energy to escape and teach astronomers anything about the chemistry within.
“It turns out they’re not so thick that they block our ability to see deeply,” said Gordon L Bjoraker, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
JUNO IS ALSO LOOKING FOR WATER ON THE GAS GIANT
The data collected will supplement the information NASA’s Juno spacecraft is gathering as it circles the planet from north to south once every 53 days.
Among other things, Juno is looking for water with its own infrared spectrometer and with a microwave radiometer that can probe deeper than anyone has seen — to 100 bars, or 100 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface.
Juno is the latest spacecraft tasked with finding water, likely in gas form, on this giant gaseous planet.
If Juno returns similar water findings, it could open a new window into solving the water problem, said Goddard’s Amy Simon, a planetary atmosphere expert.
“If it works, then maybe we can apply it elsewhere, like Saturn, Uranus or Neptune, where we don’t have a Juno,” she said.
THEORIES ABOUT THE FORMATION OF JUPITER
Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed by siphoning the elements left over from the formation of the sun as our star coalesced from an amorphous nebula into the fiery ball of gases we see today.
A widely accepted theory until several decades ago was that Jupiter was identical in composition to the sun — a ball of hydrogen with a hint of helium — all gas, no core.
But evidence is mounting that Jupiter has a core, possibly 10 times Earth’s mass.
Spacecraft that previously visited the planet found chemical evidence that:
Jupiter formed a core of rock and water ice before it mixed with gases from the solar nebula to make its atmosphere
The way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Juno also supports this theory.
There’s even lightning and thunder on the planet, phenomena fuelled by moisture.
“Jupiter’s water abundance will tell us a lot about how the giant planet formed, but only if we can figure out how much water there is in the entire planet,” said Steven M Levin, a Juno project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
SOME OTHER FACTS ABOUT THE GAS GIANT
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the solar system. Only Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter than the gas giant
Its rotation speed is so high that it has the shortest day among all the planets of the solar system
One day on the biggest planet of the solar system is just 9 hours and 55 minutes long
It takes 11.8 Earth years for Jupiter to complete one orbit around Sun
The cloud features of this gas planet are one-of-its-kind. The upper atmosphere is divided into cloud belts and zones
Raging for at least 350 years, the huge storm on the planet is three times the size of Earth. It is seen as a red spot, hence the name, the Great Red Spot
Jupiter’s atmosphere is largely made up of Hydrogen (90 per cent) and Helium. It also has ammonia, methane and water
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JUNO IS ALSO LOOKING FOR WATER ON THE GAS GIANT
The data collected will supplement the information NASA’s Juno spacecraft is gathering as it circles the planet from north to south once every 53 days.
Among other things, Juno is looking for water with its own infrared spectrometer and with a microwave radiometer that can probe deeper than anyone has seen — to 100 bars, or 100 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth’s surface.
Juno is the latest spacecraft tasked with finding water, likely in gas form, on this giant gaseous planet.
If Juno returns similar water findings, it could open a new window into solving the water problem, said Goddard’s Amy Simon, a planetary atmosphere expert.
“If it works, then maybe we can apply it elsewhere, like Saturn, Uranus or Neptune, where we don’t have a Juno,” she said.
THEORIES ABOUT THE FORMATION OF JUPITER
Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed by siphoning the elements left over from the formation of the sun as our star coalesced from an amorphous nebula into the fiery ball of gases we see today.
A widely accepted theory until several decades ago was that Jupiter was identical in composition to the sun — a ball of hydrogen with a hint of helium — all gas, no core.
But evidence is mounting that Jupiter has a core, possibly 10 times Earth’s mass.
Spacecraft that previously visited the planet found chemical evidence that:
Jupiter formed a core of rock and water ice before it mixed with gases from the solar nebula to make its atmosphere
The way Jupiter’s gravity tugs on Juno also supports this theory.
There’s even lightning and thunder on the planet, phenomena fuelled by moisture.
“Jupiter’s water abundance will tell us a lot about how the giant planet formed, but only if we can figure out how much water there is in the entire planet,” said Steven M Levin, a Juno project scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
SOME OTHER FACTS ABOUT THE GAS GIANT
Jupiter is the fourth brightest object in the solar system. Only Sun, Moon and Venus are brighter than the gas giant
Its rotation speed is so high that it has the shortest day among all the planets of the solar system
One day on the biggest planet of the solar system is just 9 hours and 55 minutes long
It takes 11.8 Earth years for Jupiter to complete one orbit around Sun
The cloud features of this gas planet are one-of-its-kind. The upper atmosphere is divided into cloud belts and zones
Raging for at least 350 years, the huge storm on the planet is three times the size of Earth. It is seen as a red spot, hence the name, the Great Red Spot
Jupiter’s atmosphere is largely made up of Hydrogen (90 per cent) and Helium. It also has ammonia, methane and water
