Explanation: Some cloud patterns on Jupiter are quite complex. The featured tumultuous clouds were captured in May by NASA's robotic Juno spacecraft currently orbiting our Solar System's largest planet. The image was taken when Juno was only about 15,000 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops, so close that less than half of the giant planet is visible. The rough white clouds on the far right are high altitude clouds known as pop-up clouds. Juno's mission, now extended into 2021, is to study Jupiter in new ways. Among many other things, Juno has been measuring Jupiter's gravitational field, finding surprising evidence that Jupiter may be mostly a liquid.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:07 am
by Astronymus
A marble.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:36 am
by orin stepanek
Astronymus wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:07 am
A marble.
A very pretty marble!
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
by JohnD
Marble, schmarble! And the Moon is made of Green Cheese!
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
John
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:36 pm
by orin stepanek
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
Marble, schmarble! And the Moon is made of Green Cheese!
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
John
I'm sorry my post offended you! I hope you find the answer to your ?'s about the clouds! I happen to like the stark beauty of things in space!
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 12:46 pm
by jambo
And I'm curious about the zit under the nearly central blue eye--a black spot in a perfect circle.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:33 pm
by Tszabeau
You would need a very VERY wide lens to capture more than half.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:01 pm
by sillyworm 2
I recall reading that those white clouds are partly comprised of frozen methane? Or was it a water / methane mixture? It is rather difficult NOT to notice the stark visual beauty of Jupiter before even talking about structure,etc.Is it an optical illusion that this highlighted area looks like it has more 3D dimensions?
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:25 pm
by neufer
APOD Robot wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 5:08 am Explanation: The image was taken when Juno was only about 15,000 kilometers over Jupiter's cloud tops, so close that less than half of the giant planet is visible.
Tszabeau wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:33 pm
You would need a very VERY wide lens to capture more than half.
15,000 km above a sphere of radius 70,000 km, one observes (15/[15+70])/2 ~ 9% of the surface
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:30 pm
by Chris Peterson
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
Better to think in terms of "fluid" than "gas" in understanding atmospheric and cloud dynamics. In fact, even on Earth clouds behave that way. We have similar clouds, probably resulting from similar processes.
_
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:32 pm
by Chris Peterson
Tszabeau wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:33 pm
You would need a very VERY wide lens to capture more than half.
Not really about the lens, though. Even from Earth there's no way to see half of Jupiter. The only way to do that would be from infinitely far away. In which case, you'd need a VERY good telephoto lens!
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
Marble, schmarble! And the Moon is made of Green Cheese!
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
John
I'm sorry my post offended you! I hope you find the answer to your ?'s about the clouds! I happen to like the stark beauty of things in space!
We should be nice to each other here at Starship Asterisk*.
Orin, I have no idea what the white clouds are, although I believe that there are people who have an idea.
I'm more interested in the large blue-green splotch at upper center. Is it really blue-green in color? And why is it a different color than almost all the rest of Jupiter (although I can see a smaller blue splotch to the upper left of it)?
Questions, questions! Let's indulge each other when we ponder the mysteries of the Universe.
Ann
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:47 pm
by neufer
sillyworm 2 wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 2:01 pm
I recall reading that those white clouds are partly comprised of frozen methane? Or was it a water / methane mixture?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter#Cloud_layers wrote:
<<Jupiter is perpetually covered with clouds composed of ammonia crystals and possibly ammonium hydrosulfide. The clouds are located in the tropopause and are arranged into bands of different latitudes, known as tropical regions.
The cloud layer is only about 50 km deep, and consists of at least two decks of clouds: a thick lower deck and a thin clearer region. There may also be a thin layer of water clouds underlying the ammonia layer. Supporting the idea of water clouds are the flashes of lightning detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter. These electrical discharges can be up to a thousand times as powerful as lightning on Earth. The water clouds are assumed to generate thunderstorms in the same way as terrestrial thunderstorms, driven by the heat rising from the interior.
The orange and brown coloration in the clouds of Jupiter are caused by upwelling compounds that change color when they are exposed to ultraviolet light from the Sun. The exact makeup remains uncertain, but the substances are thought to be phosphorus, sulfur or possibly hydrocarbons. These colorful compounds, known as chromophores, mix with the warmer, lower deck of clouds. The zones are formed when rising convection cells form crystallizing ammonia that masks out these lower clouds from view.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Tszabeau wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:33 pm
You would need a very VERY wide lens to capture more than half.
Not really about the lens, though. Even from Earth there's no way to see half of Jupiter. The only way to do that would be from infinitely far away. In which case, you'd need a VERY good telephoto lens!
I think Tszabeau's joke was that one would need a lens wider than Jupiter itself.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Tszabeau wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 1:33 pm
You would need a very VERY wide lens to capture more than half.
Not really about the lens, though. Even from Earth there's no way to see half of Jupiter. The only way to do that would be from infinitely far away. In which case, you'd need a VERY good telephoto lens!
I think Tszabeau's joke was that one would need a lens wider than Jupiter itself.
I expect that would do it.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
Better to think in terms of "fluid" than "gas" in understanding atmospheric and cloud dynamics. In fact, even on Earth clouds behave that way. We have similar clouds, probably resulting from similar processes.
_
index.jpg
I've heard meteorologists refer to such (growing/rising) cloud structures as "burning towers".
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:19 pm
by sillyworm 2
Thanks Ammonia..not methane...I should have just looked it up.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
Better to think in terms of "fluid" than "gas" in understanding atmospheric and cloud dynamics. In fact, even on Earth clouds behave that way. We have similar clouds, probably resulting from similar processes.
I've heard meteorologists refer to such (growing/rising) cloud structures as "burning towers".
I spent years working with meteorologists and never once heard
them refer to (ice filled) cumulonimbus clouds as "burning towers".
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doctor Faustus By Christopher Marlowe Scene 13
MEPHISTOPHILIS: Faustus, this, or what else thou shalt desire,
. Shall be perform'd in twinkling of an eye.
Re-enter HELEN (of Troy).
FAUSTUS: Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships,
. And burnt the topless towers of Ilium —
<<Cumulonimbus (from Latin cumulus, "heaped" and nimbus, "rainstorm") is a dense, towering vertical cloud, forming from water vapor carried by powerful upward air currents. If observed during a storm, these clouds may be referred to as thunderheads. Cumulonimbus can form alone, in clusters, or along cold front squall lines. These clouds are capable of producing lightning and other dangerous severe weather, such as tornadoes and hailstones. Cumulonimbus progress from overdeveloped cumulus congestus clouds and may further develop as part of a supercell. Cumulonimbus is abbreviated Cb.
Towering cumulonimbus clouds typically reach to as much as 12 km, with extreme instances as high as 21 km or more. Well-developed cumulonimbus clouds are characterized by a flat, anvil-like top (anvil dome), caused by wind shear or inversion near the tropopause. The shelf of the anvil may precede the main cloud's vertical component for many miles, and be accompanied by lightning. Occasionally, rising air parcels surpass the equilibrium level (due to momentum) and form an overshooting top culminating at the maximum parcel level. When vertically developed, this largest of all clouds usually extends through all three cloud regions. Even the smallest cumulonimbus cloud dwarfs its neighbors in comparison.>>
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:48 pm
by Cousin Ricky
I was expecting a link to more than just a cat.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
TheZuke! wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 4:04 pm
I've heard meteorologists refer to such (growing/rising) cloud structures as "burning towers".
I spent years working with meteorologists and never once heard
them refer to (ice filled) cumulonimbus clouds as "burning towers".
I think these are more like altocumulus castellanus clouds- more of a precursor to cumulonimbus clouds (or their Jovian counterparts).
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
Posted: Mon Jan 06, 2020 6:24 pm
by mjimih
Hi
My question is why is there so many variations is Jupiters upper clouds. Why don't they mix more thoroughly? Pure gases must be being born somehow and then wisp'ed away quicky to the top while warm. Swirling around a bit while cooling, then falling back down violently and forcefully into unforgiving vortexes to be mixed in the depths, somewhere else.
I took this turbulent cloud video last summer.
Very Jovian-like in it's unchecked instability;
Click to play embedded YouTube video.
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
Marble, schmarble! And the Moon is made of Green Cheese!
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
John
I'm sorry my post offended you! I hope you find the answer to your ?'s about the clouds! I happen to like the stark beauty of things in space!
No offence intended or received, orin, but a marble? This is Jupiter, the emperor of planets, not some 'alley' you might shoot knuckle down across the ring! It's like comparing Niagara Falls to a leaky tap!
John
Re: APOD: Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter (2020 Jan 06)
JohnD wrote: ↑Mon Jan 06, 2020 11:46 am
Marble, schmarble! And the Moon is made of Green Cheese!
I'm more interested in the white clouds at about 4 o'clock, halfway in from the visible horizon.
It looks like a splash in a liquid surface, with droplets thrown upwards, but a gas surface doesn't behave like that.
What might be causing that?
John
I'm sorry my post offended you! I hope you find the answer to your ?'s about the clouds! I happen to like the stark beauty of things in space!
No offence intended or received, orin, but a marble? This is Jupiter, the emperor of planets, not some 'alley' you might shoot knuckle down across the ring! It's like comparing Niagara Falls to a leaky tap!
John
True, Jupiter is vastly larger than a mib; but ya gotta admit it looks like one! As far as size goes Jupiter is not even a pimple in the vast expanse of the items of the Universe! don't get me wrong; Jupiter is King of the Solar System! Earth is the prettiest marble of all!
Tumultuous Clouds of Jupiter
