Jupiter Archives

Maps of the wavelength dependent optical depth (on a log scale), with optical depths of 0.1, 1.0 and 10 indicated by dotted/solid/dashed line respectively. We compare the optical depth profiles for an R=10 km, ρ =2 g cm−3 , JWST Ice ver. A cometary composition impact at three different points in time, 1 year (A), 5 years (C), and 25 years (C - steady-state) after impact, with our unperturbed HD209458b reference model (D). To emphasise how the opacity of the atmosphere varies time we also include, on our steady-state opacity map, the 1 year (green), 5 year (blue), 25 year (red) and reference (orange) τ = 1 surfaces as light shading. Note the significant effect that the addition of cometary material has had on the optical depth, in particular how an optical depth of one is reached at lower pressures, averaging ∼ 10−2 bar at steady-state vs ∼ 10−1 bar in the unperturbed model, helping to explain the difference in the transmission spectra seen in Figure 8. -- astro-ph.EP

Comets 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

by Keith CowingFebruary 9, 2024February 9, 2024

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. […]

Jupiter's moon Io, its night side illuminated by reflected sunlight from Jupiter, or "Jupitershine." Image data: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS Image processing by Emma Wälimäki © CC BY

Imaging & Spectroscopy, Io, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Status Report

Volcano World Io As Seen By Juno

by Keith CowingFebruary 9, 2024February 9, 2024

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” […]

Distribution of eccentricities for all planets more massive than 0.3 MJ interior to the snow line (left panels) and exterior to the snow line (right panels). For the top two panels, both the shade and the size of the plotted data are logarithmically proportional to the planet mass, where dark green indicates a low mass and light green indicates a high mass. The bottom two panels show the histograms of the eccentricity data appearing in the top two panels. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Habitable Zones, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Eccentricity Distribution Beyond the Snow Line and Implications for Planetary Habitability

by Keith CowingFebruary 7, 2024February 7, 2024

A fundamental question in the study of planetary system demographics is: how common is the solar system architecture?

JWST/NIRSpec integrated spectra and 1σ uncertainties (gray error bars) of Callisto’s leading (purple) and trailing (red) hemisphere, normalized to 1 at 3.82 μm and offset vertically for clarity. The G395H grating has a ~0.1 μm wide wavelength gap, shifting between ~4 and 4.2 μm across NIRSpec IFU’s 29 image slices. Some of the image slices that span Callisto’s disk include wavelength coverage between ~4 and 4.2 μm, which are shown here for Callisto’s leading (bright blue) and trailing (bright orange) hemispheres. All spectral features identified in this study are labeled, with dotted lines indicating their central wavelengths. Features with confirmed compositions have bolded labels, whereas weak features, or those with multiple compositional interpretations, are italicized and followed by question marks. Possible bands and spectral structure at wavelength >4.98 μm may result from data calibration artifacts and are not analyzed in this study. The inset box shows a close-up of the 4.19 to 4.42 μm wavelength range, highlighting the CO2 features we have identified and the different band centers for 12CO2 on Callisto’s leading (4.254 μm) and trailing (4.250 μm) hemisphere, as well as a feature near 4.3 μm that may result from an isotope of CO2 or could be a residual solar line (Appendix A.3). -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, 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

by Keith CowingJanuary 31, 2024January 31, 2024

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.

(a) Time-Energy-Differential Number Flux (DNF) spectrogram of the JADE-E data recorded during Juno’s 12th perijove. (b) Magnetic projection of Juno’s position onto the orbital plane of the Galilean moons (green curves) and Juno’s M-Shell (red curves) calculated with JRM33+KK2005 (dashed lines) and JRM33+CON2020 (plain lines). Vertical blue lines at 09:15:42 and 09:20:46 highlight the magnetic flux tubes crossings of Europa and Io, respectively. Juno’s position and velocity with respect to Jupiter are indicated below the sub-panel (b). -- astro-ph.EP

Callisto, 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

by Keith CowingJanuary 19, 2024January 19, 2024

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.

This JunoCam image of Jupiter’s moon Io captures a plume of material ejected from the (unseen) volcano Prometheus. Indicated by the red arrow, the plume is just visible in the darkness below the terminator (the line dividing day and night). The image was taken by NASA’s Juno spacecraft on October 15. NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS

Astrogeology, 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

by Keith CowingDecember 29, 2023December 29, 2023

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 […]

SCT-determined column-averaged ammonia mole fraction in the GRS region separated by one week in time. Top: 2022-10-13 03:45UT; bottom: 2022-10-20 04:40UT. Large scale features persist, but smaller scale features show changes. While these changes may be physical, they may also represent indications of noise. -- astro-ph.EP

Astrochemistry, 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

by Keith CowingDecember 27, 2023December 27, 2023

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.

Schematic of the observing routine on Jupiter by VLT/ESPRESSO on the 22 July 2019. The small circles represent the FOV of the fibre proportional to the size of Jupiter’s disk in the context of these observations (0.5 arc seconds in diameter for the size of the FOV), and their respective labels. We also included a grid to tentatively map the relative position of each observing position in latitude and longitude. Grid lines have intervals of 15∘ on both coordinates. The solid black line on the right side of the spherical grid represents the morning terminator, while the blue dotted line marks the location of the 12 h local time meridian. The picture of the planet’s disk was taken from the Planetary Virtual Observatory and Laboratory. Picture credits go to Gary Walker.

Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Brown Dwarfs, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Jupiter, Press Release

Comparative Exolanetology: Jupiter Targeted By VLT/ESPRESSO Exoplanet Hunter

by Keith CowingDecember 26, 2023December 26, 2023

For the first time, an instrument to find planets light years away was used on an object in the Solar System, in a study on Jupiter’s winds.

Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Press Release

Video: The Making of Juice: The Film

by Keith CowingNovember 24, 2023November 23, 2023

One giant planet. Three icy moons. An eight-year journey. One special spacecraft.

Callisto, Europa, Ganymede, Gas Giants, Icy Worlds, Io, Jupiter, Missions & Hardware, Press Release

Juice Spacecraft Makes Earth-Moon Flyby On Its Astrobiology-Themed Mission

by Keith CowingNovember 17, 2023November 17, 2023

On 17 November 2023, ESA’s Juice spacecraft carried out one of the largest and most important manoeuvres in its eight-year journey to Jupiter.

Jupiter

The Impact Of Cometary Impacts On The Chemistry, Climate, And Spectra Of Hot Jupiter Atmospheres

Volcano World Io As Seen By Juno

Eccentricity Distribution Beyond the Snow Line and Implications for Planetary Habitability

Revealing Callisto’s Carbon-rich Surface And CO2 Atmosphere With JWST

Influence Of The Jovian Current Sheet Models On The Mapping Of The UV Auroral Footprints Of Io, Europa, And Ganymede

Juno Will Make A Very Close Flyby of Volcanic World Io On Saturday

Spatial Variations of Jovian Tropospheric Ammonia via Ground-Based Imaging

Comparative Exolanetology: Jupiter Targeted By VLT/ESPRESSO Exoplanet Hunter

Video: The Making of Juice: The Film

Juice Spacecraft Makes Earth-Moon Flyby On Its Astrobiology-Themed Mission

Isobaric Crystallization of Aqueous Magnesium Chloride Solutions at Icy Moon Conditions

Systematic Uncertainties in Rocky Exoplanet Reflected Light from Incomplete Laboratory BRDF Measurements

New Discovery Links Hemispheres In The Mystery Of Earth’s Past Ice Ages

UV Photodamage Pathways And The Evolutionary Selection Of Thymine Over Uracil In Early Genetic Systems

Reversion To The Meta Body Form Of Life After Complete Cell Death In Pure Liquid Water