New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the infamous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This graphic shows the region observed by Webb – first its position on the NIRCam image of the entire planet (left) and the region itself (right) as imaged by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec). The NIRSpec image is a composite of six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering an area of ​​300 km2, and shows infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules lie more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where light from the sun ionizes the hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, the redder colors show hydrogen emissions from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the very prominent Great Red Spot. Jupiter is far from the Sun and therefore receives a uniformly low level of daylight, meaning that most of the planet’s surface is relatively weak at these infrared wavelengths – especially compared to emissions from molecules near the poles, where Jupiter’s magnetic field is particularly strong. . Contrary to scientists’ expectations that this region would therefore appear homogeneous in nature, it hosts a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, throughout the field of view. Acknowledgments: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Jupiter ERS Team, J. Schmidt, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
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New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the infamous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This graphic shows the region observed by Webb – first its position on the NIRCam image of the entire planet (left) and the region itself (right) as imaged by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec). The NIRSpec image is a composite of six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering an area of ​​300 km2, and shows infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules lie more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where light from the sun ionizes the hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, the redder colors show hydrogen emissions from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the very prominent Great Red Spot. Jupiter is far from the Sun and therefore receives a uniformly low level of daylight, meaning that most of the planet’s surface is relatively weak at these infrared wavelengths – especially compared to emissions from molecules near the poles, where Jupiter’s magnetic field is particularly strong. . Contrary to scientists’ expectations that this region would therefore appear homogeneous in nature, it hosts a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, throughout the field of view. Acknowledgments: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Jupiter ERS Team, J. Schmidt, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
Using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope, scientists observed the region above Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot to discover a number of previously unseen features. An area previously believed to be insignificant in nature hosts a variety of complex structures and activities.
Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the night sky and is easy to see on a clear night. Apart from the bright northern and southern lights in the planet’s polar regions, the glow from Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is weak, making it difficult for ground-based telescopes to discern details in this region. However, Webb’s infrared sensitivity allows scientists to study Jupiter’s upper atmosphere above the infamous Great Red Spot in unprecedented detail.
Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the lower atmosphere. Seen here are bright and brilliant displays of the northern and southern lights, which are powered by volcanic material ejected from Jupiter’s moon Io.
Closer to the equator, however, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is affected by incoming solar radiation. Since Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight received on Earth, astronomers predicted that the region is homogeneous in nature.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was observed by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in July 2022 using the instrument’s Integral Field Unit capabilities. The Early Release Science team’s observations sought to investigate whether the region was, in fact, dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was the target of Webb’s observations.
The team was surprised to find that the upper atmosphere hosts a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, throughout the field of view. The results were published in Astronomy of nature.
“We thought this region, perhaps naively, would be really boring,” said team leader Henrik Melin of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. “In fact, it’s just as interesting as the aurora borealis, if not more so. Jupiter never ceases to amaze.”
Although the light emitted from this region is powered by sunlight, the team suggests that there must be another mechanism that changes the shape and structure of the upper atmosphere.
New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the infamous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This image shows the area observed by the Webb Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec). It is stitched together from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering an area of ​​approximately 300 square km. NIRSpec observations show infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules lie more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where light from the sun ionizes the hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, the redder colors show hydrogen emissions from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light from lower altitudes, including atmospheric cloud tops and the prominent Great Red Spot. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA Standard License
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New observations of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the infamous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This image shows the area observed by the Webb Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec). It is stitched together from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering an area of ​​approximately 300 square km. NIRSpec observations show infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules lie more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where light from the sun ionizes the hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, the redder colors show hydrogen emissions from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light from lower altitudes, including atmospheric cloud tops and the prominent Great Red Spot. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA Standard License
“One way you can change this structure is through gravitational waves – similar to the waves that hit the beach and create ripples in the sand,” explained Henrik. “These waves are generated deep in the turbulent lower atmosphere, all around the Great Red Spot, and can travel aloft and change the structure and emissions of the upper atmosphere.”
The team explains that these atmospheric waves can occasionally be observed on Earth. However, they are much fainter than those observed by Webb on Jupiter. They also hope to conduct follow-up Webb observations of these complex wave patterns in the future to investigate how the patterns move through the planet’s upper atmosphere and develop our understanding of the region’s energy budget and how its properties change over time.
These findings may also support ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, which will launch on April 14, 2023. Juice will make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large ocean moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – using the remote sensing suite. geophysical and in situ instruments.
The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore in depth Jupiter’s complex environment, and study the broader Jupiter system as the archetype of gas giants throughout the universe.
These observations were taken as part of Early Release Science #1373: ERS Observations of the Jovian System as a Demonstration of JWST’s Capabilities for Solar system Science.
“This ERS proposal was written back in 2017,” said team member Imke de Pater of the University of California, Berkeley. “One of our goals was to investigate why the temperature above the Great Red Spot appeared to be high, as shown by recent observations with NASA’s infrared telescope. However, our new data showed very different results.”
More information:
Henrik Melin et al, Ionospheric irregularities on Jupiter observed by JWST, Astronomy of nature (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02305-9
Information from the diary:
Astronomy of nature