This illustration (a rendering, not a real photo) uses data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms on Jupiter. Juno’s sensitive Stellar Reference Unit camera detected unusual lightning flashes on Jupiter’s dark side during the spacecraft’s close flybys of the planet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
NASA takes incredible footage of Jupiter’s lightning storms [video]
The images, taken by NASA’s Juno Cam, show electrical discharge and shallow lightning originating from Jupiter’s clouds.
This illustration (a rendering, not a real photo) uses data obtained by NASA’s Juno mission to depict high-altitude electrical storms on Jupiter. Juno’s sensitive Stellar Reference Unit camera detected unusual lightning flashes on Jupiter’s dark side during the spacecraft’s close flybys of the planet. Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt
NASA released results from its JunoCam mission that shows what appears to be “shallow lightning” at our solar system’s largest, most-beloved gas giant: Jupiter. The photos will take your breath away.
‘Shallow lightning’ on Jupiter
The images show an “unexpected form of electrical discharge and shallow lightning” which originates from Jupiter’s clouds. Don’t confuse these clouds with the fluffy clouds we know and love on Earth.
No, Jupiter’s clouds contain an ammonia-water solution, which results in violent thunderstorms and “slushy ammonia-rich hailstones”. The Juno science team refer to these hailstones as “mushballs”.
They theorise that the mushballs “essentially kidnaps” ammonia and water in the upper atmosphere before carrying the balls down into the depths of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
Their findings were published on 6 August 2020 and is available from the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.
Another recent study pointed out that lightning on Jupiter “illuminates clouds and produces a strong pulse at radio wavelengths”.
“Observations of these radio pulses and direct lightning‐induced radio emissions at 600 MHz come from the same area, very close to deep water clouds detected by the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in the Jovian atmosphere. The coordinated Juno‐HST lightning observations provide a new way of understanding the lightning processes and lightning source regions associated with the cloud features at Jupiter”.
Watch: Juno science teams explains ‘mushballs’
Based on the information retrieved from the Juno Cam and what scientists already know about the red planet, an artist was able to create a representation (video below) of what a lightning storm on Jupiter could look like.
The shallow lightning factors into another puzzle about the inner workings of Jupiter’s atmosphere: Juno’s Microwave Radiometer instrument discovered that ammonia was depleted, or missing, from most of Jupiter’s atmosphere.
‘Missing’ ammonia on Jupiter
Even more puzzling was that the number of ammonia changes as one move within Jupiter’s atmosphere. Scott Bolton, Juno’s principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, explains:
“Previously, scientists realised there were small pockets of missing ammonia, but no one realised how deep these pockets went or that they covered most of Jupiter. We were struggling to explain the ammonia depletion with ammonia-water rain alone, but the rain couldn’t go deep enough to match the observations”.
Bolton adds that he realised “a solid, like a hailstone, might go deeper and take up more ammonia”.
But it wasn’t until Heidi Becker, Juno’s Radiation Monitoring Investigation lead at NASA, discovered the shallow lightning that the team realised they had “evidence that ammonia mixes with water high in the atmosphere”.
Watch: Storms on Jupiter
Ammonia-water clouds on Jupiter
This discovery confirmed that the lightning was a “key piece of the puzzle.” Becker explained that the JunoCam’s close fly-by across the cloud tops showed smaller, shallower flashes that originated at higher altitudes in Jupiter’s atmosphere.
“At these altitudes, the ammonia acts like an antifreeze, lowering the melting point of water ice and allowing the formation of a cloud with ammonia-water liquid. In this new state, falling droplets of ammonia-water liquid can collide with the upgoing water-ice crystals and electrify the clouds”.
She explained that the finding was “a big surprise, as ammonia-water clouds do not exist on Earth”. The new data will now help answer questions about why different areas on the gas giant are “missing ammonia”.
Also read — Jupiter-orbiting space probe captures the planet’s beauty [photos]
