Given that we don’t yet know whether a planetary core exists within Jupiter, much of our understanding of giant planet formation comes from a different line of investigation: the bulk composition of the planet. The composition of the atmosphere that we observe today results from a combination of many processes – chemistry initiated […]
Juno has just passed a major milestone in its first wide orbit around the giant planet, having passed by its apojove, the furtherest distance to Jupiter (8.1 million km). It will now fall back down the gravity well towards its next close encounter with the planet on August 27th. That completes the first of two […]
One of the largest remaining questions in understanding the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, the outmost layer of the atmosphere, is: ‘Why is this region so very hot?’. Out where Jupiter orbits the Sun, the sunlight is very faint, and cannot provide enough energy to produce the temperatures that we measure.We call this the ‘energy crisis’. […]
Dr. Leigh Fletcher discusses how Juno could revolutionise our understanding of the origins of Jupiter via gravitational mapping of its internal structure. The presence of Jupiter has had a profound influence on the architecture of our solar system, shaping the conditions that have led to the stable, habitable environment that exist here on Earth. […]
Water, water, everywhere. Dr. Leigh Fletcher appeared on this month’s episode of BBC Sky at Night to discuss Juno’s goals at Jupiter, and describes the importance of Jupiter’s water in this new post. If our ideas about the formation of giant planets stand up to the observational tests of the Juno […]
As part of the ground based support for the Juno mission, I visited the Mauna Kea Observatories, Hawaii, in February through to the beginning of March this year. I was observing Jupiter’s Northern lights while Juno was speeding its way towards Jupiter. During this time, Juno’s instruments had been switch on and it was busy […]
Unfortunately, they don’t let you take observing trips to the Hubble Space Telescope; perhaps the only downside to using the veteran observatory. It is a strange feeling, knowing that this world-renowned and famously oversubscribed facility, perhaps best known for its remarkable images of nebulae and galaxies, is, for a fleeting moment in history, doing […]
This article was released by the European Southern Observatory, Royal Astronomical Society and University of Leicester press office on Monday June 27th to coincide with the UK National Astronomy Meeting. Stunning new images and the highest-resolution maps to date of Jupiter at thermal infrared wavelengths give a glowing view of Juno’s target, a week ahead […]
In late April 2016, I had the privilege of spending a few weeks in Hawaii, observing on the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility, using a spectrograph called TEXES. This is an instrument that can measure the composition and structure of Jupiter’s clouds, and was built at the University of Texas, Austin. These observations provide a picture […]
During Juno’s time at Jupiter, we will have the fantastic opportunity to study the most powerful aurora in the solar system. An aurora is light emitted by atoms and molecules that have been excited through collisions with very energetic particles that enter a planet’s atmosphere along the planet’s magnetic field lines. The generation of Jupiter’s […]
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