Page 28 - ATD 27MAY2017

A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 27 May 2017

Monstrous cyclones churning over Jupiter’s poles

MARCIA DUNN “That’s the Jupiter we’ve be hail.
AP Aerospace Writer all known and grown to Juno also has detected an
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. love,” Bolton said. “And overwhelming abundance
(AP) — Monstrous cyclones when you look from the of ammonia deep down
are churning over Jupiter’s pole, it looks totally differ- in Jupiter’s atmosphere,
poles, until now a largely ent ... I don’t think anybody and a surprisingly strong
unexplored region that is would have guessed this is magnetic field in places
more turbulent than scien- Jupiter.” — roughly 10 times greater
tists expected. He calls these first major than Earth’s. It’s also led
NASA’s Juno spacecraft findings — published Thurs- scientists to believe Jupiter
spotted the chaotic weath- day — “Earth-shattering. Or may have a “fuzzy” core —
er at the top and bottom of should I say, Jupiter-shat- as Bolton puts it — big but
Jupiter once it began skim- tering.” partially dissolved.
ming the cloud tops last Turning counter-clockwise Then there are the ee-
year, surprising research- in the northern hemisphere rie sounds of plasma waves
ers who assumed the giant just like on Earth, the cy- at Jupiter — “nature’s mu-
gas planet would be rela- clones are clearly clus- sic,” according to Bolton.
tively boring and uniform tered near the poles. The During the teleconference,
down low. diameters of some of these he played two minutes of
“What we’re finding is any- confirmed cyclones stretch the spacecraft’s recording
thing but that is the truth. up to 1,700 miles (2,800 ki- from February, adjusted for
It’s very different, very com- lometers). Even bigger, the human ear and full of
plex,” Juno’s chief scientist though shapeless weather percussion sounds as well
Scott Bolton of the South- systems are present in both as high-pitched beeps and
west Research Institute said polar regions. At the same squeals, and even flute-like
Thursday. time, the two poles don’t notes.
With dozens of cyclones really resemble each other, Results were published
hundreds of miles across which is puzzling, accord- in Science and Geophysi-
— alongside unidentifiable ing to Bolton. This image made available by NASA on Thursday, May 25, 2017, cal Research Letters.
weather systems stretching Scientists are eager to see, and made from data captured by the Juno spacecraft shows Jupiter’s poles appear dra-
thousands of miles — the over time, whether these Jupiter’s south pole. Associated Pres matically different from
poles look nothing like Ju- super cyclones are stable Bolton said. two months given Juno’s neighboring Saturn’s, ac-
piter’s equatorial region, or dynamic. “Are they go- Just as intriguing will be extremely oblong orbit. The cording to the scientists,
instantly recognizable by ing to stay the same way how fast these super cy- next one will be in July, with with nothing like the hexa-
its stripes and Great Red for years and years like clones are moving. investigators targeting the gon-shaped cloud system
Spot, a raging hurricane- the Great Red Spot ... Of Launched in 2011 and or- Great Red Spot. over Saturn’s north pole.
like storm. course, only time will tell,” Researchers hope to com-
biting Jupiter since last Juno is moving so fast dur- pare Juno’s observations
summer, Juno is providing ing these chummy en-
the best close-up views counters that it takes only with those of NASA’s Cas-
sini spacecraft, in its final
ever of our solar system’s two hours to get from the
largest planet, peering north pole to the south. months orbiting Saturn.
Juno’s findings are “really
beneath the clouds for a Besides polar cyclones,
true portrait. It’s made five Juno has spotted white ice going to force us to rethink
not only how Jupiter works,
close passes over Jupiter so caps on Jupiter — frozen
far for science collection, bits of ammonia and wa- but how do we explore
Saturn, Uranus and Nep-
the most recent last week; ter. Bolton refers to them as
they occur about every Jovian snowfall — or may- tune,” Bolton said.q