Scientists with NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter have calculated the rate of oxygen being produced at the Jovian moon Europa to be substantially less than most previous studies.
Jupiter
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Cryobiology, Europa, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Press Release
SwRI Scientists Lead Two Europa Investigation Teams
Southwest Research Institute is leading two “Precursor Science Investigations for Europa” (PSIE) teams to understand critical topics in advance of NASA’s Europa Clipper mission to the Jupiter moon. Both projects […]
Posted inComets and Asteroids, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Impact events, Jupiter, Status Report
The Impact Of Cometary Impacts On The Chemistry, Climate, And Spectra Of Hot Jupiter Atmospheres
Impacts from icy and rocky bodies have helped shape the composition of solar system objects, for example the Earth-Moon system, or the recent impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter. […]
Posted inImaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Status Report
Volcano World Io As Seen By Juno
NASA’s Juno spacecraft just made the closest flybys of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has carried out in more than 20 years. An instrument on this spacecraft called “JunoCam” […]
Posted inEuropa, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Status Report
Subsurface Thermophysical Properties of Europa’s Leading and Trailing Hemispheres as Revealed by ALMA
We present best-fit values of porosity — and the corresponding effective thermal inertiae — determined from three different depths in Europa’s near-subsurface (~1-20 cm). The porosity of the upper ~20 […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Callisto, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Status Report
Revealing Callisto’s Carbon-rich Surface And CO2 Atmosphere With JWST
We analyzed spectral cubes of Callisto’s leading and trailing hemispheres, collected with the NIRSpec Integrated Field Unit (G395H) on the James Webb Space Telescope.
Posted inCallisto, Europa, Ganymede, Io, Jupiter, Status Report
Influence Of The Jovian Current Sheet Models On The Mapping Of The UV Auroral Footprints Of Io, Europa, And Ganymede
The in-situ characterization of moon-magnetosphere interactions at Jupiter and the mapping of moon auroral footpaths require accurate global models of the magnetospheric magnetic field.
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Jupiter, Saturn, Status Report
Earths Are Not Super-Earths, Saturns Are Not Jupiters: Imprints Of Pressure-bump Planet Formation On Planetary Architectures
In protoplanetary disks, sufficiently massive planets excite pressure bumps, which can then be preferred locations for forming new planet cores. We discuss how this loop may affect the architecture of […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Caves, Craters, Mountains, Subsurface, Lava Tubes, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Press Release
Juno Will Make A Very Close Flyby of Volcanic World Io On Saturday
NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Saturday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Status Report
Spatial Variations of Jovian Tropospheric Ammonia via Ground-Based Imaging
Optical bandpass-filter observations can be simply processed to determine similar horizontal ammonia distributions above the Jovian cloud tops as mid-infrared and microwave observations.