Astronomers first “tasted” the clouds of Jupiter – RIA Novosti

15:33 03.06.2016

(updated: 18:41 03.06.2016 )

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MOSCOW, June 3 – RIA Novosti. radio telescope VLA first time allowed scientists to look beyond the thick clouds in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, study their composition and “taste” the lower layers of the giant planet, finding in them a sudden a lot of ammonia, according to an article published in the journal Science.

“We were able to get a three-dimensional picture of how distributed ammonia in the atmosphere of Jupiter. It reveals how the airflow and liquid droplets move up and down in the hectic atmosphere of the giant planet , “- said Imke de Pater (Imke de Pater) from the University of California at Berkeley (USA)

de Pater and his colleagues for the first time were able to penetrate into the depths of gaseous Jupiter membranes, prior to the arrival to him Juno probe.. This station has to uncover the secrets of the atmosphere of a giant planet, using a radio telescope VLA and original method of observation.

As the scientists explain, to probe “Galileo” the arrival of Jupiter, most planetary scientists believe that in the gas giant’s atmosphere, almost no ammonia. Lander, discarded interplanetary station, the first to show that this is not true – he was unable to find ammonia in the upper atmosphere, the so-called cloud layer. However, underneath “Galileo” found large quantities of gas.

Checking data collected by “Galileo”, hampered by the fact that Jupiter is surrounded by thick clouds of electrons and other charged particles, preventing the study of its subsurface using radio telescopes. They are forcing astronomers to go to all sorts of tricks in order to look into Jupiter’s atmosphere to a depth of several tens of kilometers.

De Pater and his colleagues were able to increase the sensitivity of the radio observations several times, watching Jupiter are not on one, but on the whole spectrum of radio frequencies available telescopes. Combining these data, scientists have achieved a much higher sensitivity and “disruptive force” than it could in the past.

Using the Power updated the VLA, the authors were able to “break through” the cloud giant planet and explore its subsoil to a depth of about 100 kilometers. It was found that ammonia is present in large amounts not only in the lower layers of the atmosphere of Jupiter, but its upper layers. In addition, the scientists were able to see in the radio and the “great red spot”, a giant storm in Jupiter’s atmosphere, which had not previously been seen in telescopes images.

Jupiter Photo in the optical and radio – range

The ammonia is distributed through it very unevenly – areas with a high concentration of gas, where ammonia rises to the “surface” of Jupiter from his bowels, interspersed by so-called “dry” areas, where it is almost there.

In one of these points, as they are today scientists believe, accidentally hit the descent module ” Galileo”. It is for this reason that he did not find ammonia in the clouds in the upper atmosphere, where it is actually quite a lot.

As hopes De Pater received its ammonia distribution card team in Jupiter’s atmosphere, and the data on its device to help the scientific team Juno probe, which will arrive at the giant planet on July 4 this year, to choose the most interesting regions for “probing” the upper and lower layers of the gas shells of Jupiter.