Why This Jaw-Dropping Jupiter Image From JWST Is Surprising Scientists

Scientists looking closely at this iconic image of Jupiter from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have found an exciting new feature in the giant planet’s atmosphere.

The image, which is taken by capturing only infrared light, was first published in August using observations from 2022, but it’s only now revealing what’s happening at Jupiter’s equator.

Scientists have used the image to find a high-speed jet stream spanning over 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) above the planet’s main cloud decks in Jupiter’s lower stratosphere. The newly discovered jet stream travels at about 320 miles (515 kilometers) per hour—about twice as fast as a Category 5 hurricane on Earth.

Turbulent Atmosphere

That’s important because Jupiter’s turbulent atmosphere comprises many layers, which are hard to tease apart. Webb’s unique infrared capabilities, it seems, will be key in untangling how the layers interact with each other.

The new discovery also underscores how important Webb could be for solar system science as well as for exoplanet observations and extra-galactic cosmology.

Total Surprise

“This is something that totally surprised us,” said Ricardo Hueso of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain. “What we have always seen as blurred hazes in Jupiter’s atmosphere now appear as crisp features that we can track along with the planet’s fast rotation.”

Hueso is the lead author on a new paper published this week in the journal Nature.

Since one day on Jupiter—one rotation—takes 10 hours, JWST’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) took four images 10 hours apart, each using a different filter.

In the main image, above, brightness indicates high altitude with white spots and streaks likely high-altitude cloud tops of condensed convective storms. Auroras appear red.

More To Learn

In doing so it was able to examine, for the first time, higher-altitude layers of the giant planet’s atmosphere about 15-30 miles (25-50 kilometers) above the cloud tops.

“It’s amazing to me that, after years of tracking Jupiter’s clouds and winds from numerous observatories, we still have more to learn about Jupiter, and features like this jet can remain hidden from view until these new NIRCam images were taken in 2022,” said team member Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester in the U.K.

Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.

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