Juno reveals dancing cyclones on Jupiter and magma on its fiery moon

Jupiter is a planet of extremes – intense winds, towering cyclones, and magnetic forces that make Earth’s weather look tame. Add to that its volcanic moon, Io, and there’s no shortage of cosmic drama in this distant part of the solar system.

The Juno spacecraft has just sent back new findings that give scientists an even clearer look at what’s happening both deep inside Jupiter and under the crust of Io.

Using a mix of radio signals, microwave sensors, and infrared imaging, the mission has uncovered how Jupiter’s cyclones behave and how Io manages to keep erupting with heat from within.

Insights from the Juno team

The research was presented by scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the Southwest Research Institute at a recent science conference in Vienna.

The team shared two important updates: a new map of temperatures beneath the surface of Io, and a better understanding of how storms move across Jupiter’s poles.

“Everything about Jupiter is extreme. The planet is home to gigantic polar cyclones bigger than Australia, fierce jet streams, the most volcanic body in our solar system, the most powerful aurora, and the harshest radiation belts,” said Scott Bolton, principal investigator of Juno at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.

“As Juno’s orbit takes us to new regions of Jupiter’s complex system, we’re getting a closer look at the immensity of energy this gas giant wields.”

Warm magma found below Io’s crust

Juno’s microwave radiometer was originally designed to study Jupiter’s thick cloud cover. But scientists decided to turn it toward Io. They combined this data with infrared images from another instrument called JIRAM.

“The Juno science team loves to combine very different datasets from very different instruments and see what we can learn,” said Shannon Brown, a Juno scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

“When we incorporated the MWR data with JIRAM’s infrared imagery, we were surprised by what we saw: evidence of still-warm magma that hasn’t yet solidified below Io’s cooled crust. At every latitude and longitude, there were cooling lava flows.”

The data shows that about 10% of Io’s surface has pockets of lava just beneath the outer layer. That lava is slowly cooling – kind of like how a car radiator works, moving heat out from the core and shedding it into space.

“Io’s volcanos, lava fields, and subterranean lava flows act like a car radiator, efficiently moving heat from the interior to the surface, cooling itself down in the vacuum of space,” said Brown.

The scientists confirmed that a massive eruption, spotted during Juno’s December 27 flyby, was still active as of March 2. They expect to get a better view on May 6, when Juno passes within 55,300 miles (89,000 kilometers) of the moon.

Exploring Jupiter’s temperature extremes

Juno is also collecting data using a method called radio occultation. In simple terms, scientists send a radio signal from Earth to Juno, which then travels back through Jupiter’s atmosphere.

On the way, the radio signal bends slightly, depending on the temperature and density of the atmospheric layers through which it passes.

So far, 26 signals have been sent. One key result: Jupiter’s north polar stratospheric cap is 11 degrees Celsius cooler than nearby regions. And it’s encircled by howling winds that top 100 miles per hour (160 kilometers per hour).

Jupiter’s dancing cyclones

Jupiter’s north pole is surrounded by nine giant cyclones – one in the center, and eight circling it like petals. Unlike hurricanes on Earth that pop up and fade, Jupiter’s cyclones are long-lived and stay near the poles.

Scientists tracked the movement of these storms using images from JunoCam and infrared scans from JIRAM. They noticed that each storm drifts slowly toward the pole due to a process called “beta drift.” This drift happens when circular wind patterns interact with the planet’s spin.

On Earth, storms lose power as they near the poles. But on Jupiter, the polar cyclones bunch together and interact. Their speed slows as they start bouncing off each other.

“These competing forces result in the cyclones ‘bouncing’ off one another in a manner reminiscent of springs in a mechanical system,” said Yohai Kaspi, a Juno co-investigator from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel.

“This interaction not only stabilizes the entire configuration, but also causes the cyclones to oscillate around their central positions, as they slowly drift westward, clockwise, around the pole.”

This new model could help scientists better understand storm movement, not just on Jupiter but possibly on Earth and other planets as well.

The road ahead for Juno

Each orbit of Jupiter gives Juno a fresh view. As the spacecraft continues to adjust its path, it flies through some of the most intense radiation zones in the solar system.

“One of the great things about Juno is its orbit is ever-changing, which means we get a new vantage point each time as we perform a science flyby,” said Bolton.

“In the extended mission, that means we’re continuing to go where no spacecraft has gone before, including spending more time in the strongest planetary radiation belts in the solar system. It’s a little scary, but we’ve built Juno like a tank and are learning more about this intense environment each time we go through it.”

Juno’s mission keeps expanding our view of the solar system’s most powerful planet and its wildest moon. And with more flybys planned, the discoveries aren’t likely to stop anytime soon.

Image Credit: NASA / SwRI / MSSS / Jackie Branc (CC BY).

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