Jupiter's hollow storm: A cyclone with no depth or heat
In short: In April 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft captured a baffling image of a giant cyclone on Jupiter. While it appears powerful in visible and infrared light, it completely vanishes in the microwave spectrum. It seems to be a hollow storm, defying our current understanding of planetary atmospheres.
Jupiter is a world of extremes, home to polar cyclones larger than Australia and the solar system's most powerful aurora. Because its clouds are so dense and deep, no spacecraft can physically descend into the planet's interior; in 2003, the Galileo spacecraft lost contact with Earth upon entering the atmosphere. To study what lies beneath, scientists use instruments like Juno's microwave radiometer (MWR) to peer through the cloud tops and infer deeper conditions based on chemical signatures of ammonia, methane, and water.
The recent discovery of a 'hollow' cyclone presents a significant mystery. Typically, these massive storms are characterized by significant heat and depth. However, this specific feature shows no heat or depth in microwave data, leading researchers to question if it represents a new category of shallow storm or if it indicates a much stranger underlying structure.
This mystery highlights the limitations of current models, even as new computational models from the University of Chicago and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory are beginning to provide the most detailed atmospheric maps ever created. Beyond these mysterious storms, Juno is also uncovering the planet's chemical makeup. Recent studies estimate that Jupiter contains roughly 1.5 times more oxygen than the Sun, a finding that helps explain how the solar system formed. Furthermore, experts have identified that atmospheric gases within Jupiter travel at a pace far lower than earlier estimates suggested. These findings, combined with data on the volcanic activity of the moon Io—where about 10% of the surface shows remnants of cooling lava just below the crust—are reshaping our understanding of the Jovian system's immense energy and internal mechanics.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Juno’s Deep Scan of Jupiter Reveals a Terrifying Mystery Beneath the Clouds
- Also: NASA’s Juno Mission Gets Under Jupiter’s and Io’s Surface - NASA
- Also: Jupiter’s clouds are hiding something big
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