APOD: Churning Clouds on Jupiter (2020 Aug 11)

[APOD Robot]

Churning Clouds on Jupiter

Explanation: Where is Jupiter's ammonia? Gaseous ammonia was expected to be seen in Jupiter's upper atmosphere by the orbiting Juno spacecraft -- but in many clouds is almost absent. Recent Juno data, however, gives some clues: some high-level clouds appear to be home to an unexpected type of electrical discharge dubbed shallow lightning. Great charge separations are needed for lightning, which might be created by colliding mushballs lifted by rising updrafts of gas. Ammonia and water stick to these mushballs which rise until they get too heavy -- after which they fall deep into Jupiter's atmosphere and melt. By this process, ammonia found missing from <a hre="ap200106.html">Jupiter's upper atmosphere</a> reappears below. Pictured by Juno, churning clouds on Jupiter show not only mesmerizing complexity but some high-level, light-colored pop-up clouds. Understanding atmospheric dynamics on Jupiter gives valuable perspective to similar atmospheric and lightning phenomena that occur on our home Earth.

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[Rohan]

Cloudy with a chance of mushballs ...

[Ann]

Mushballs and pop-up clouds. Yes, Jupiter is a different world.

And we are here. It is so extraordinary when you think of it.

Ann

[neufer]

<<Shiing-Shen Chern (October 28, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese-American mathematician and poet. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geometry" and is widely regarded as a leader in geometry and one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century.>>

• Hail to Chern! Mathematics Greatest!
  He made Gauss-Bonnet a household word,
  Intrinsic proofs he found,
  Throughout the World his truths abound,
  Chern classes he gave us,
  and Secondary Invariants,
  Fibre Bundles and Sheaves,
  Distributions and Foliated Leaves!
  All Hail All Hail to CHERN.

[bystander]

viewtopic.php?t=40865

[Fossilnole]

As a zoologist, I saw a great likeness of an octopus at lower center of this image. Great stuff.

[NCTom]

I am more familiar with the atmospheric belts of Jupiter. What is the region we are seeing? One of the poles?

[bystander]

I am more familiar with the atmospheric belts of Jupiter. What is the region we are seeing? One of the poles?

... At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was about 5,375 miles (8,650 kilometers) from Jupiter's cloud tops at a latitude of about 50 degrees North. ...

[Phobos1]

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

[johnnydeep]

<<Shiing-Shen Chern (October 28, 1911 – December 3, 2004) was a Chinese-American mathematician and poet. He made fundamental contributions to differential geometry and topology. He has been called the "father of modern differential geometry" and is widely regarded as a leader in geometry and one of the greatest mathematicians of the twentieth century.>>

• Hail to Chern! Mathematics Greatest!
  He made Gauss-Bonnet a household word,
  Intrinsic proofs he found,
  Throughout the World his truths abound,
  Chern classes he gave us,
  and Secondary Invariants,
  Fibre Bundles and Sheaves,
  Distributions and Foliated Leaves!
  All Hail All Hail to CHERN.

You've lost me yet again. Did "Churning Clouds" really lead you to think of this obscure (to me anyway) mathematician named Shiing-Shen Chern?

[BDanielMayfield]

I am more familiar with the atmospheric belts of Jupiter. What is the region we are seeing? One of the poles?

... At the time the image was taken, the spacecraft was about 5,375 miles (8,650 kilometers) from Jupiter's cloud tops at a latitude of about 50 degrees North. ...

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

Look behind you, Phobos1. Answers sometimes precede questions.

[orin stepanek]

Jumping Jupiter! Reminds me of old time wallpaper!

[Chris Peterson]

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

You're looking at about 12,000 km of the surface. Think a coin on a soccer ball.

[johnnydeep]

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

You're looking at about 12,000 km of the surface. Think a coin on a soccer ball.

I don't understand. The diameter of Jupiter is 140,000 km. The pic seems to shows the full width of Jupiter, that is, we see both "sides". Oh, wait - light brightening as I write this - is it because we are so close to the surface that the edges of the circular horizon we see don't show the full width?

[johnnydeep]

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

You're looking at about 12,000 km of the surface. Think a coin on a soccer ball.

I don't understand. The diameter of Jupiter is 140,000 km. The pic seems to shows the full width of Jupiter, that is, we see both "sides". Oh, wait - light brightening as I write this - is it because we are so close to the surface that the edges of the circular horizon we see don't reflect the full width of the planet?

[Chris Peterson]

Is that a nearly polar view? Those clouds look nothing like bands you see near the equator.

You're looking at about 12,000 km of the surface. Think a coin on a soccer ball.

I don't understand. The diameter of Jupiter is 140,000 km. The pic seems to shows the full width of Jupiter, that is, we see both "sides". Oh, wait - light brightening as I write this - is it because we are so close to the surface that the edges of the circular horizon we see don't show the full width?

Bingo. The horizon is very close. (We see the same thing on a lot of ISS images of the Earth... it sort of looks like we're seeing the globe of the Earth, but we're really just seeing to a horizon 1000 miles away.)

[johnnydeep]

You're looking at about 12,000 km of the surface. Think a coin on a soccer ball.

I don't understand. The diameter of Jupiter is 140,000 km. The pic seems to shows the full width of Jupiter, that is, we see both "sides". Oh, wait - light brightening as I write this - is it because we are so close to the surface that the edges of the circular horizon we see don't show the full width?

Bingo. The horizon is very close. (We see the same thing on a lot of ISS images of the Earth... it sort of looks like we're seeing the globe of the Earth, but we're really just seeing to a horizon 1000 miles away.)

Cool. I learned something again. Thanks!

[NCTom]

Thanks, everyone. Like Johnnydeep, I have learned something else. That always makes for a worthwhile day, and why this is such a great site!