‘We use Earth-bound radio observations to peer
beneath Jupiter’s surface.’ says Imke de Pater in this week’s issue of Science.
With radio waves, she and her team managed to see what goes on under Jupiter’s
surface.
Mixed signals
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| An ammonia molecule |
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| The radio wave picture (top one) shows the movements of ammonia in Jupiter’s atmosphere, the bottom picture is a normal picture taken by Hubble. |
The new
version of the VLA radio telescope has discovered stripes in Jupiter’s atmosphere,
close to its equator. These stripes have alternating high and low
concentrations of ammonia. And the high concentrations are caused by plumes of
ammonia that rise from deeper inside Jupiter. This discovery enabled Imke de
Pater and her team to fit both the high and low concentrations of ammonia into
the same pattern. This pattern gives us a more detailed understanding of what’s
going on around a hundred kilometres deep in Jupiter’s atmosphere. And also of
the processes that happen much deeper in the atmosphere, since the patterns
higher up are influenced by the processes lower in the atmosphere. Like when
you see the fiftieth domino in a line of dominoes fall, you know that the first
one also has fallen.
Husband and wife
This
knowledge is also helpful for a new mission to Jupiter. Next month, space probe
Juno is going to arrive by Jupiter. It is going to orbit around Jupiter and
researching its gravity field, magnetic field and also concentrations of water
and ammonia. With researching the water concentrations on Jupiter, scientist hope
to find out more about Jupiter’s origin. And the new explanation of ammonia
concentrations can be tested by Juno. This space probe can also peek deeper
into Jupiter, because it’s way closer.
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