• Email Us: [email protected]
  • Contact Us: +1 718 874 1545
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Medical Market Report

  • Home
  • All Reports
  • About Us
  • Contact Us

“Frosted Cupcake” Clouds Caught Dancing On Jupiter

September 22, 2022 by Deborah Bloomfield

New 3D renders created by a team of amateur scientists from Juno data show the “frosted cupcake” clouds of Jupiter in all their glory. As pretty as they may appear, however, you certainly don’t want to get caught up in this astronomically powerful storm. 

The stunning results were presented by a team of citizen scientists at the Europlanet Science Congress 2022 in Granada this week. 

Advertisement

The images were created by data from JunoCam, the visible-light camera onboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft. Juno has been orbiting the gas giant since 2016 and this batch of data was collected during its 43rd close flyby.



The JunoCam was initially put on Juno for the prime purpose of simply taking gorgeous images of Jupiter to capture the attention of the public. While it’s undoubtedly succeeded with the task, it’s also managed to produce some work of real scientific value. 

“The Juno mission provides us with an opportunity to observe Jupiter in a way which is essentially inaccessible by Earth-based telescopic observations. We can look at the same cloud features from very different angles within only a few minutes,” Dr Gerald Eichstädt, a mathematician and software Developer who worked on the project, said in a statement. 

Advertisement

“This has opened up a new opportunity to derive 3D elevation models of Jupiter’s cloud-tops. The images of the wonderful chaotic storms on Jupiter seem to come to life, showing clouds rising at different altitudes.”

Images of Jupiter’s swirling storm clouds often make the planet look like smooth marble. However, these images show that the violent clouds actually feature peaks and troughs like a rugged mountain range. Sunlight is most intense for clouds in the upper atmosphere, but it becomes increasingly absorbed as it reaches deeper into the atmosphere.

Data from Juno was used to create an image showing the depth of Jupiter's clouds

Another shot of the 3D render of Jupiter’s clouds. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt

“From theoretical models, the clouds are expected to be composed of different chemical species, ammonia, ammonium hydrosulphide, and water ice from top to bottom,” explained Dr Eichstädt. “Once we calibrate our data thanks to other measurements of the same cloud tops, we will test and refine the theoretical predictions and have a better 3D picture of the chemical composition.”

Advertisement

With a radius of 69,911 kilometers ( 43,440.7 miles), Jupiter is 11 times wider than Earth. It’s the largest planet in our Solar System by a long shot – and its clouds are equally gigantic. 

Previous work by Juno has revealed that some of these clouds extend some 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) into the planet. That’s longer than the distance between the southern and northern borders of the US.  

The planet’s iconic Great Red Spot – the largest storm in the Solar System – is also of gargantuan proportions, reaching a depth of up to 500 kilometers (310 miles) and spanning 6,000 kilometers (almost 10,000 miles) in diameter.

Deborah Bloomfield
Deborah Bloomfield

Related posts:

  1. Merck KGaA lifts growth forecast for life science tools business
  2. China’s factory inflation hits 13-year high as materials costs soar
  3. Wall St extends gains following Fed statement
  4. NBA-Curry happy Wiggins handled ‘responsibilities’ by taking COVID vaccine

Source Link: “Frosted Cupcake” Clouds Caught Dancing On Jupiter

Filed Under: News

Primary Sidebar

  • The Universe’s “Red Sky Paradox” Just Got Darker: Most Stars Might Never Host Observers
  • Uranus And Neptune May Not Be “Ice Giants” But The Solar System’s First “Rocky Giants”
  • COVID-19 Can Alter Sperm And Affect Brain Development In Offspring, Causing Anxious Behavior
  • Why Do Spiders’ Legs Curl Up Like That When They’re Dead?
  • “Dead Men’s Fingers” Might Just Be The Strangest Fruit On The Planet
  • The South Atlantic’s Giant Weak Spot In The Earth’s Magnetic Field Is Growing
  • Nearly Half A Century After Being Lost, “Zombie Satellite” LES-1 Began Sending Signals To Earth
  • Extinct In the Wild, An Incredibly Rare Spix’s Macaw Chick Hatches In New Hope For Species
  • HUNTR/X Or Giant Squid? Following Alien Claims, We Asked Scientists What They Would Like Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS To Be
  • Flat-Earthers Proved Wrong Using A Security Camera And A Garage
  • Earth Breaches Its First Climate Tipping Point: We’re Moving Into A World Without Coral Reefs
  • Cheese Caves, A Proposal, And Chance: How Scientists Ended Up Watching Fungi Evolve In Real Time
  • Lab-Grown 3D Embryo Models Make Their Own Blood In Regenerative Medicine Breakthrough
  • Humans’ Hidden “Sixth Sense” To Be Mapped Following $14.2 Million Prize – What Is Interoception?
  • Purple Earth Hypothesis: Our Planet Was Not Blue And Green Over 2.4 Billion Years Ago
  • Hippos Hung Around In Europe 80,000 Years Later Than We Thought
  • Officially Gone: Slender-Billed Curlew, Once-Widespread Migratory Bird, Declared Extinct By IUCN
  • Watch: Rare Footage Captures Freaky Faceless Cusk Eels Lurking On The Deep-Sea Floor
  • Watch This Funky Sea Pig Dancing Its Way Through The Deep Sea, Over 2,300 Meters Below The Surface
  • NASA Lets YouTuber Steve Mould Test His “Weird Chain Theory” In Space
  • Business
  • Health
  • News
  • Science
  • Technology
  • +1 718 874 1545
  • +91 78878 22626
  • [email protected]
Office Address
Prudour Pvt. Ltd. 420 Lexington Avenue Suite 300 New York City, NY 10170.

Powered by Prudour Network

Copyrights © 2025 · Medical Market Report. All Rights Reserved.

Go to mobile version