Why Do Colorful Cloud Bands Encircle Jupiter?
Why do colorful cloud bands encircle Jupiter? Jupiter’s top atmospheric layer is divided into light zones and dark belts that go all the way around…
Jupiter
Don’t Miss It: Jupiter, Saturn Will Look Like Double Planet for First Time Since Middle Ages
Just after sunset on the evening of December 21, 2020, Jupiter and Saturn will appear closer together in Earth’s night sky than they have been…
Potential Plumes on Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa Could Come From Water in the Crust
Scientists have theorized on the origin of the water plumes possibly erupting from Jupiter’s moon Europa. Recent research adds a new potential source to the…
Harbinger of Extraterrestrial Life? Explaining Cryovolcanic Eruptions on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
A new model shows how brine on Jupiter’s moon Europa can migrate within the icy shell to form pockets of salty water that erupt to…
Jupiter’s Icy Moon Europa Glows in the Dark
New lab experiments re-create the environment of Europa and find that the icy moon shines, even on its nightside. The effect is more than just…
An Additional Planet Between Saturn and Uranus Was Kicked Out of the Solar System
Where were Jupiter and Saturn born? New work led by Carnegie’s Matt Clement reveals the likely original locations of Saturn and Jupiter. These findings refine…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Spots Signs That “Sprites” or “Elves” Frolic in Jupiter’s Atmosphere
An instrument on the spacecraft may have detected transient luminous events — bright flashes of light in the gas giant’s upper atmosphere. New results from…
Volcanic Impact on Jupiter’s Moon Io Shown Directly for the First Time
New radio images from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) show for the first time the direct effect of volcanic activity on the atmosphere of Jupiter’s…
Cyclones at Jupiter’s North Pole Appear As Swirls of Striking Colors
Cyclones at the north pole of Jupiter appear as swirls of striking colors in this extreme false-color rendering of an image from NASA’s Juno mission….
Mystery of Strange Storms on Jupiter With Unusual Geometric Pattern Solved With Help From 19th Century Physics
At the south pole of Jupiter lurks a striking sight—even for a gas giant planet covered in colorful bands that sports a red spot larger…
Hubble Captures Crisp New Portrait of Jupiter’s Turbulent Storms Raging Across the Planet
Turbulent Storms Rage Across The Giant Planet More massive than all the other planets combined, Jupiter truly is the king of our solar system. The…
Supercritical High-Pressure Hydrogen: Atomistic Modeling Probes the Exotic Behavior of Matter at the Center of Jupiter
The hydrogen atom, with its single proton orbited by a single electron, is arguably the simplest material out there. Elemental hydrogen can nonetheless exhibit extremely…
Jupiter’s Moons Could be Warming Each Other through Tidal Resonance
The gravitational push and pull by Jupiter’s moons could account for more warming than the gas giant Jupiter alone. Jupiter’s moons are hot. Well, hotter…
Violent Impact May Have Caused Huge Ring-Like Structure on the Surface of Jupiter’s Moon Ganymede
Researchers from Kobe University and the National Institute of Technology, Oshima College have conducted a detailed reanalysis of image data from Voyager 1, 2 and…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Reveals Jupiter’s Unusual Electrical Storms: “Shallow Lightning” and “Mushballs”
The spacecraft may have found where the colorless gas has been hiding on the solar system’s biggest planetary inhabitant. New results from NASA’s Juno mission…
“Mushballs”: Exotic Ammonia-Rich Hailstones Shed New Light on Jupiter’s Weather
Water is a key substance in the meteorology of planets and is believed to play a key role in their formation. Terrestrial storms are driven…
NASA’s Innovative New Telescope Will Study Jupiter, Its Rings, and Two Intriguing Moons
Jupiter, named for the king of the ancient Roman gods, commands its own mini-version of our solar system of circling satellites; their movements convinced Galileo…
NASA’s Juno Spacecraft Takes First Images of Jupiter Moon Ganymede’s North Pole
Infrared images from Juno provide the first glimpse of Ganymede’s icy north pole. On its way inbound for a Dec. 26, 2019, flyby of Jupiter,…