New observations of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the famous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This graph shows the region observed by Webb: first its location on a NIRCam image of the entire planet (left) and the region itself (right), imaged by Webb’s near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec). The NIRSpec image is assembled from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering about 300 square km, and shows infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules are found more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where sunlight ionizes hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, redder colors represent hydrogen emission from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light coming from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the all-important Great Red Spot. Jupiter is far from the sun and therefore receives a uniform, low level of daylight, meaning that most of the planet’s surface is relatively dark at these infrared wavelengths, especially compared to the emission molecules close to the poles, where Jupiter’s magnetic field is particularly powerful. . Contrary to the researchers’ expectations that this area would therefore appear homogeneous, it hosts a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA & CSA, Jupiter ERS Team, J. Schmidt, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb)
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New observations of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the famous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This graph shows the region observed by Webb: first its location on a NIRCam image of the entire planet (left) and the region itself (right), imaged by Webb’s near-infrared spectrograph (NIRSpec). The NIRSpec image is assembled from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering about 300 square km, and shows infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules are found more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where sunlight ionizes hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, redder colors represent hydrogen emission from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light coming from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the all-important Great Red Spot. Jupiter is far from the sun and therefore receives a uniform, low level of daylight, meaning that most of the planet’s surface is relatively dark at these infrared wavelengths, especially compared to the emission molecules close to the poles, where Jupiter’s magnetic field is particularly powerful. . Contrary to the researchers’ expectations that this area would therefore appear homogenous, it hosts a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view. Credit: 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 variety of never-before-seen features. The region, previously considered mundane in nature, is home to a variety of complex structures and activities.
Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the night sky and is easily visible on a clear day. Aside from the bright northern and southern lights in the planet’s polar regions, the glow from Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is faint, 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 famous Great Red Spot in unprecedented detail.
Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the underlying atmosphere. Here, one can see the bright and vibrant displays of the Northern and Southern Lights, powered by volcanic material ejected from Jupiter’s moon Io.
However, closer to the equator, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is influenced by incident sunlight. Since Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight received on Earth, astronomers predicted that this region would be homogeneous in nature.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot was observed by the Webb Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in July 2022, using the capabilities of the instrument’s integral field unit. The Early Release Science team’s observations were aimed at determining whether this region was truly dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was targeted for Webb’s observations.
The team was surprised to discover that the upper atmosphere harbors a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view. The results were published in Natural astronomy.
“We thought, perhaps naively, that this region would be really boring,” said Henrik Melin, team leader from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom. “It’s actually as interesting, if not more, than the Northern Lights. 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 changing the shape and structure of the upper atmosphere.
New observations of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the famous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This image shows the region observed by Webb’s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). It is assembled from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering approximately 300 square km. NIRSpec observations show infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules are found more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where sunlight ionizes hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, redder colors represent hydrogen emission from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light coming from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the Great Red Spot. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA standard license
× close
New observations of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter have revealed that the planet’s atmosphere above and around the famous storm is surprisingly interesting and active. This image shows the region observed by Webb’s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec). It is assembled from six NIRSpec Integral Field Unit images taken in July 2022, each covering approximately 300 square km. NIRSpec observations show infrared light emitted by hydrogen molecules in Jupiter’s ionosphere. These molecules are found more than 300 km above the storm clouds, where sunlight ionizes hydrogen and stimulates this infrared emission. In this image, redder colors represent hydrogen emission from these high altitudes in the planet’s ionosphere. Bluer colors show infrared light coming from lower altitudes, including cloud tops in the atmosphere and the Great Red Spot. Credit: ESA/Webb, NASA and CSA, H. Melin, M. Zamani (ESA/Webb) CC BY 4.0 INT or ESA standard license
“One way to modify this structure is to use gravitational waves, similar to waves crashing on a beach, creating ripples in the sand,” Henrik explained. “These waves are generated deep in the turbulent lower atmosphere, all around the Great Red Spot, and they can rise in altitude, changing the structure and emissions of the upper atmosphere.”
The team explains that these atmospheric waves can be observed occasionally on Earth. However, they are much weaker than those observed on Jupiter by Webb. They also hope to carry out follow-up observations of these complex wave patterns by Webb in the future, to study how these patterns move in the planet’s upper atmosphere and to develop our understanding of this region’s energy budget and how its characteristics change over time.
These results could also support ESA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, which was launched on April 14, 2023. Juice will make detailed observations of Jupiter and its three large oceanic moons – Ganymede, Callisto and Europa – using a remote sensing suite, geophysical and in situ instruments.
The mission will characterize these moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats, explore Jupiter’s complex environment in depth, and study the broader Jupiter system as the archetype of gas giants across 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 in 2017,” explained team member Imke de Pater from the University of California, Berkeley. “One of our goals had been to study why the temperature above the Great Red Spot appeared to be high, as revealed at the time by recent observations with NASA’s infrared telescope. However, our new data showed very different results.”
More information:
Henrik Melin et al, Ionospheric irregularities at Jupiter observed by JWST, Natural astronomy (2024). DOI: 10.1038/s41550-024-02305-9
Journal information:
Natural astronomy