Juno Mission Team Reports New Results from Jupiter

New data gathered by NASA’s Juno orbiter indicate that Jupiter’s winds run deep into its atmosphere and last longer than similar atmospheric processes found on Earth. The findings, published in the March 8, 2018 issue of the journal Nature, will improve understanding of Jupiter’s interior structure, core mass and, eventually, its origin.

JunoCam took this image during its eleventh close flyby of Jupiter on February 7, 2018. Image credit: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / David Marriott.

JunoCam took this image during its eleventh close flyby of Jupiter on February 7, 2018. Image credit: NASA / JPL / SwRI / MSSS / David Marriott.

“These astonishing science results are yet another example of Jupiter’s curve balls, and a testimony to the value of exploring the unknown from a new perspective with next-generation instruments,” said Juno principal investigator Dr. Scott Bolton, of the Southwest Research Institute.

“Juno’s unique orbit and evolutionary high-precision radio science and infrared technologies enabled these paradigm-shifting discoveries.”

The depth to which the roots of Jupiter’s famous zones and belts extend has been a mystery for decades. Gravity measurements collected by Juno during its close flybys of the planet have now provided an answer.

“Juno’s measurement of Jupiter’s gravity field indicates a north-south asymmetry, similar to the asymmetry observed in its zones and belts,” said Juno co-investigator Dr. Luciano Iess, a researcher at Sapienza University of Rome.

On a gas planet, such an asymmetry can only come from flows deep within the planet; and on Jupiter, the visible eastward and westward jet streams are likewise asymmetric north and south. The deeper the jets, the more mass they contain, leading to a stronger signal expressed in the gravity field. Thus, the magnitude of the asymmetry in gravity determines how deep the jet streams extend.

“Galileo viewed the stripes on Jupiter more than 400 years ago,” said Juno co-investigator Dr. Yohai Kaspi, a scientist at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

“Until now, we only had a superficial understanding of them and have been able to relate these stripes to cloud features along Jupiter’s jets. Now, following the Juno gravity measurements, we know how deep the jets extend and what their structure is beneath the visible clouds. It’s like going from a 2D picture to a 3D version in high definition.”

The result was a surprise for the Juno science team because it indicated that the weather layer of Jupiter was more massive, extending much deeper than previously expected. The Jovian weather layer, from its very top to a depth of 1,900 miles (3,000 km), contains about one percent of Jupiter’s mass (about 3 Earth masses).”

“By contrast, Earth’s atmosphere is less than one millionth of the total mass of Earth. The fact that Jupiter has such a massive region rotating in separate east-west bands is definitely a surprise.”

The finding is important for understanding the nature and possible mechanisms driving these strong jet streams. In addition, the gravity signature of the jets is entangled with the gravity signal of Jupiter’s core.

Another Juno result suggests that beneath the weather layer, Jupiter rotates nearly as a rigid body.

“This is really an amazing result, and future measurements by Juno will help us understand how the transition works between the weather layer and the rigid body below,” said Juno co-investigator Dr. Tristan Guillot, a researcher at the Université Côte d’Azur in France.

“Juno’s discovery has implications for other worlds in our Solar System and beyond. Our results imply that the outer differentially-rotating region should be at least three times deeper in Saturn and shallower in massive giant planets and brown dwarf stars.”

Another striking result is the beautiful new imagery of Jupiter’s poles captured by Juno’s Jovian Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument.

_____

L. Iess et al. 2018. Measurement of Jupiter’s asymmetric gravity field. Nature 555 (7695): 220-222; doi: 10.1038/nature25776

Y. Kaspi et al. 2018. Jupiter’s atmospheric jet streams extend thousands of kilometres deep. Nature 555 (7695): 223-226; doi: 10.1038/nature25793

T. Guillot et al. 2018. A suppression of differential rotation in Jupiter’s deep interior. Nature 555 (7695): 227-230; doi: 10.1038/nature25775

About Skype

Check Also

, 3D Radiogram of Mars, #Bizwhiznetwork.com Innovation ΛI

3D Radiogram of Mars

Mars is the only known planet aside from Earth that has polar ice caps, but …

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Bizwhiznetwork Consultation