Probe spots massive cyclones at the poles of Jupiter
The nature and scale of the storms are causing scientists to rethink what they thought they knew about the gas giant.
The nature and scale of the storms are causing scientists to rethink what they thought they knew about the gas giant.
Monstrous cyclones are churning over Jupiter鈥檚 poles, until now a largely unexplored region that is more turbulent than scientists expected.
NASA鈥檚聽Juno聽spacecraft spotted the chaotic weather at the top and bottom of Jupiter once it began skimming the cloud tops last year, surprising researchers who assumed the giant gas planet would be relatively boring and uniform down low.
鈥淲hat we鈥檙e finding is anything but that is the truth. It鈥檚 very different, very complex,鈥� Juno鈥檚 chief scientist Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute said Thursday.
With dozens of cyclones hundreds of miles across 鈥� alongside unidentifiable weather systems stretching thousands of miles 鈥� the poles look nothing like Jupiter鈥檚 equatorial region, instantly recognizable by its stripes and Great Red Spot, a raging hurricane-like storm.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the Jupiter we鈥檝e all known and grown to love,鈥� Dr. Bolton said. 鈥淎nd when you look from the pole, it looks totally different ... I don鈥檛 think anybody would have guessed this is Jupiter.鈥�
He calls these first major findings 鈥� published Thursday 鈥� 鈥淓arth-shattering. Or should I say, Jupiter-shattering.鈥�
Turning counter-clockwise in the northern hemisphere just like on Earth, the cyclones are clearly clustered near the poles. The diameters of some of these confirmed cyclones stretch up to 1,700 miles. Even bigger, though shapeless weather systems are present in both polar regions. At the same time, the two poles don鈥檛 really resemble each other, which is puzzling, according to Bolton.
Scientists are eager to see, over time, whether these super cyclones are stable or dynamic. 鈥淎re they going to stay the same way for years and years like the Great Red Spot.... Of course, only time will tell,鈥� Bolton said.
Just as intriguing will be how fast these super cyclones are moving.
Launched in 2011 and orbiting Jupiter since last summer, Juno is providing the best close-up views ever of our solar system鈥檚 largest planet, peering beneath the clouds for a true portrait. It鈥檚 made five close passes over Jupiter so far for science collection, the most recent last week; they occur about every two months given Juno鈥檚 extremely oblong orbit. The next one will be in July, with investigators targeting the Great Red Spot.
Juno is moving so fast during these chummy encounters that it takes only two hours to get from the north pole to the south.
Besides polar cyclones, Juno has spotted white ice caps on Jupiter 鈥� frozen bits of ammonia and water. Bolton refers to them as Jovian snowfall 鈥� or maybe hail.
Juno also has detected an overwhelming abundance of ammonia deep down in Jupiter鈥檚 atmosphere, and a surprisingly strong magnetic field in places 鈥� roughly 10 times greater than Earth鈥檚. It鈥檚 also led scientists to believe Jupiter may have a 鈥渇uzzy鈥� core 鈥� as Bolton puts it 鈥� big but partially dissolved.
Then there are the eerie聽sounds聽of plasma waves at Jupiter 鈥� 鈥渘ature鈥檚 music,鈥� according to Bolton. During the teleconference, he played two minutes of the spacecraft鈥檚 recording from February, adjusted for the human ear and full of percussion sounds as well as high-pitched beeps and squeals, and even flute-like notes.
Results were published in Science and Geophysical Research Letters.
Jupiter鈥檚 poles appear dramatically different from neighboring Saturn鈥檚, according to the scientists, with nothing like the hexagon-shaped cloud system over Saturn鈥檚 north pole.
Researchers hope to compare Juno鈥檚 observations with those of NASA鈥檚 Cassini spacecraft, in its final months orbiting Saturn.
Juno鈥檚 findings are 鈥渞eally going to force us to rethink not only how Jupiter works, but how do we explore Saturn, Uranus and Neptune,鈥� Bolton said.