Astronomy Picture of the Day - Jupiter Abyss

NASA ^ | 3 Nov, 2024 | Image Credit: NASA, Juno, SwRI, MSSS; Processing & License: Gerald Eichstädt & Sean Doran

[MtnClimber]

Explanation: What's that black spot on Jupiter? No one is sure. During one pass of NASA's Juno over Jupiter, the robotic spacecraft imaged an usually dark cloud feature informally dubbed the Abyss. Surrounding cloud patterns show the Abyss to be at the center of a vortex. Since dark features on Jupiter's atmosphere tend to run deeper than light features, the Abyss may really be the deep hole that it appears -- but without more evidence that remains conjecture. The Abyss is surrounded by a complex of meandering clouds and other swirling storm systems, some of which are topped by light colored, high-altitude clouds. The featured image was captured in 2019 while Juno passed only about 15,000 kilometers above Jupiter's cloud tops. The next close pass of Juno near Jupiter will be in about three weeks.

[MtnClimber]

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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.

[MtnClimber]

[MtnClimber]

Pinging the APOD list

🪐 🌟 🌌 🍔

[Larry Lucido]

Cool. We can go caving on Jupiter!

[know.your.why]

I still cant get my head around what it is that drives all that energy thats imparted to Jupiter’s atmosphere so that its unimaginably turbulent and chaotic. So fascinatingly baffling.

[BenLurkin]

Where tax dollars go?

[No name given]

Wow.

[MtnClimber]

Jupiter is almost massive enough to be a brown dwarf star. It may have enough pressure near it's core to have some hydrogen fusion. The atmospheric temperatures are quite high. Here is an Infrared view of Jupiter:

[POGO163]

This is my Theory: at the depths of the surface of the Planet the temperature is different all over and the temperatures change from time to time all over the Planet. This temperature change all over the Planet makes the Gases respond like you see.

[ryderann]

The colors and pattern would make lovely floor tile or linoleum.

[POGO163]

The belts of heat on the surface are probably caused by the rotation of Jupiter.

[MtnClimber]

From Space.com: Jupiter’s average temperature is minus 234 F (minus 145 C), but it can reach up to 1,340 F (725 C) in the upper atmosphere.

[know.your.why]

Jupiter’s average temperature is minus 234 F (minus 145 C), but it can reach up to 1,340 F (725 C) in the upper atmosphere.

See....how....??? Thats like saying you've got an ice cube that causes all the air around it to be super heated. That math dont work. Yo no comprendo.

[MtnClimber]

It did not seem right to me either. But I did not want to put a partial quote and that is what I found. The IR photo shows upper clouds cold and through breaks in the clouds it is hot.

[AFB-XYZ]

Fascinating. I stand in awe of such incredible forces at work within our own solar system.

[Empire_of_Liberty]

That’s almost better than the original picture! What a seething cauldron of heat!

Jupiter’s surface, turbulent as it is, belies what is at its center.

[Nateman]

I suspect the source of heat is the radioactive decay of Uranium and Thorium. Such decay is enough to keep the Earth’s core hot.

[MtnClimber]

Maybe the astronauts had a thermometer on the pole for the flag they planted. /s

[MtnClimber]

I suspect the source of heat is the radioactive decay of Uranium and Thorium. Such decay is enough to keep the Earth’s core hot.

That could be too. Though Jupiter is a "Gas Giant" it could also have a rocky core. More likely a molten rock core.

[Telepathic Intruder]

1. Jupiter emits almost twice as much energy as it receives from sunlight because of internal heating.

2. The strong Coriolis force produced by its high rate of spin drive atmospheric currents similar to how Earth’s spin drives the trade winds, but to a much greater effect.

3. There are demons in its lower atmospheric layers fighting dragons in its upper layers. The middle layer is where Democrat politicians go when they die.