Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) have found previously unseen structures and activity in Jupiter’s atmosphere above the Great Red Spot. These strange features appear to be caused by strong atmospheric gravitational waves. The Great Red Spot is the largest storm in the solar system, twice the size of Earth and believed to… Read More »
Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news about fascinating discoveries, scientific breakthroughs and more. Jupiter’s iconic Great Red Spot is a massive storm that has been swirling through the atmosphere of the largest planet in the solar system for years. However, astronomers debate how old the vortex actually is,… Read More »
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) left Earth a year ago to begin a mission to explore Jupiter’s potential ocean moons Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa in detail. Water is a vital component for life on Earth, so learning more about its distribution on these moons and other moons such as Saturn’s moon Enceladus could tell… Read More »
Gas giant Jupiter takes center stage in these two new portraits of opposing sides of the planet, showing swirling storms and turbulent cloud bands blown by winds blowing hundreds of kilometers per hour. Hubble space telescope He shot these images on January 5-6, 2024. Jupiter rotates every 10 hours, Hubble managed to image a hemisphere… Read More »
NASA’s Juno mission will come closer to Jupiter’s moon Io on Saturday, December 30, than any spacecraft has in nearly 20 years. The flyby will bring Juno within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of Io, the most volcanic body in the solar system. This will allow the spacecraft to look at Io in detail while… Read More »