The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope offers a breathtaking infrared view of Jupiter, with brightness in the image signifying higher altitude. The planet is dotted with bright white spots and streaks, indicating the likely presence of condensed, convective storm clouds at high altitudes. The poles of Jupiter display auroras in red, reaching up into higher atmospheric levels. In contrast, the dark areas north of the equator suggest a lack of cloud formation. Credits for this visualization go to various institutions and individuals, including NASA, ESA, CSA, and several academic contributors.
The James Webb Space Telescope has unveiled a jet stream within Jupiter’s atmosphere that had remained undetected until now. This phenomenon resembles those seen on Saturn, with both potentially connected to atmospheric temperature shifts.
Planets commonly possess high-speed jet streams in their atmospheres, including Earth, where they can reach speeds of 400 km/h at high altitudes. Jupiter and Saturn feature prominently aligned zonal jets that can achieve speeds around 500 km/h.
The JWST provided images of Jupiter from different angles, showing upper clouds and deeper atmospheric layers, produced through a collaboration that includes NASA, ESA, CSA, and the Jupiter Early Release Science team, with image processing by Ricardo Hueso.
James Webb Space Telescope’s Observations
On July 27, 2022, the JWST observed Jupiter’s atmosphere, part of an international collaboration involving the University of the Basque Country’s Planetary Sciences Group. Ricardo Hueso orchestrated the image analysis sequence captured by JWST, revealing a jet stream that had evaded decades of observation.
The study, now featured in Nature Astronomy, indicates the involvement of researchers such as Agustín Sánchez-Lavega and Arrate Antuñano-Martín in this discovery.
The analysis revealed that Jupiter’s zonal winds, observable in visible wavelengths, differ significantly in their upper cloud movements compared to lower altitudes.
A Less Luminous Jupiter for a More Capable Telescope
Jupiter’s brightness presented a challenge for JWST, which has a light-collecting area vastly superior to Hubble’s. Therefore, the observations targeted Jupiter’s darker wavelengths, where gas absorption is significant. This strategy allowed JWST to capture a three-dimensional view of the planetary weather systems, distinguishing between high and deep cloud formations based on brightness in the images. Two sets of images, timed with Jupiter’s rotation, enabled an in-depth study of atmospheric movement.
Unveiling: The Equatorial Jet Stream
The images from JWST displayed cloud movements over Jupiter’s equator that were unlike those in lower clouds. The high-altitude clouds revealed wind speeds of 500 km/h, a stark contrast to the 250 km/h winds of the lower clouds, 30 km beneath.
A Recurring Feature Among Gas Giants
The research compares this newly found Jupiter jet with Saturn’s equatorial jet stream, discovered through observations by Cassini and the UPV/EHU’s Planetary Sciences Group. The study suggests that the high-speed equatorial jets on both planets could be linked to cyclic atmospheric temperature changes, previously believed to affect only stratospheric levels. This discovery challenges existing atmospheric models and points to potential variability in the intensity of these jets, connected to deep atmospheric layers and influenced by the changing thermal properties where the Coriolis forces diminish.
For further details on this finding, the article “Webb Space Telescope Reveals New Feature in Jupiter’s Atmosphere” is recommended.
References are provided to scientific articles detailing the discoveries and comparisons with Saturn’s atmospheric phenomena.
Table of Contents
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Jupiter’s jet stream
What has the James Webb Space Telescope discovered on Jupiter?
The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a high-altitude jet stream in Jupiter’s atmosphere that reaches speeds of up to 500 km/h, a phenomenon that had not been detected before.
How do Jupiter’s jet streams compare to those on Earth?
Jupiter’s jet streams, known as zonal jets, are perfectly aligned with the planet’s parallels and can reach maximum speeds of approximately 500 km/h, whereas Earth’s jet streams change latitude and can reach speeds of about 400 km/h at altitudes over 10 km.
What do the colors in the JWST’s images of Jupiter represent?
In the JWST’s images, brightness indicates the altitude of cloud tops; bright areas represent high-altitude clouds, while dark regions suggest areas with little to no cloud cover.
What was the significance of the JWST’s observation method for Jupiter?
The JWST observed Jupiter at wavelengths where the planet appears darkest due to gas absorption, allowing for detailed imagery of the upper and deeper cloud structures in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
How do the findings from Jupiter’s atmosphere compare to Saturn’s?
The jet stream found on Jupiter is similar to a high-altitude narrow jet on Saturn, suggesting that both may be related to global temperature variations in the atmospheres of these gas giants.
What does the discovery of Jupiter’s jet stream indicate about atmospheric models?
The discovery challenges the current understanding of atmospheric models, suggesting that the fast equatorial jets on Jupiter and Saturn may be connected to deep atmospheric temperature oscillations previously thought to be confined to higher altitudes.
More about Jupiter’s jet stream
- James Webb Space Telescope’s First Images
- Studying Jupiter’s Atmosphere with JWST
- Understanding Jupiter’s Jet Streams
- Comparing Atmospheric Phenomena on Gas Giants
- Decoding Jupiter’s Climate with Infrared Imagery
