How complex is
Jupiter? NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter is finding the Jovian giant to be more complicated than
expected. Jupiter’s magnetic field
has been discovered to be much different from our Earth’s simple dipole
field, showing several poles embedded
in a complicated network more
convoluted in the north than the south. Further, Juno’s radio measurements show
that Jupiter’s atmosphere shows structure well below the upper cloud
deck — even hundreds of
kilometers deep. Jupiter‘s newfound complexity is evident also in southern clouds, as shown in
the texture and color enhanced featured image taken last month. There, planet-circling zones and belts that dominate near the equator decay into a complex miasma of continent-sized storm swirls. Juno continues in its looping elliptical orbit, swooping near the huge
planet every month and
exploring a slightly different sector each time around.
Image & info via APOD
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS; Processing & License: Thomas Thomopoulos
Source: Jupiter’s
Clouds in High Definition from Juno – Scents of Science
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