Tag Archives: Jupiters

Junho Analyzes the Ultraviolet Satellite Footprint of Jupiter’s Moon Callisto

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Jupiter showcases the most brilliant and magnificent auroras in the solar system. Near its poles, these shimmering lights provide insight into how its moons and planets engage with the solar wind propelled by Jupiter’s magnetic field. In contrast to Earth’s auroras, the largest of Jupiter’s moons generates its own unique auroral signature within the planet’s atmosphere. The auroras linked to these moons, referred to as satellite footprints, illustrate the interactions of each moon with its immediate spatial environment.

Junho captures the mark on Jupiter in all four Galilean Moons. The aurora associated with each are labelled IO, EUR (europa), Gan (for Ganymede), and Cal (for Callisto). Image credits: NASA/JPL-CALTECH/SWRI/UVS TEAM/MSSS/GILL/Jónsson/Perry/Hue/Rabia.

Prior to NASA’s Juno Mission, three of Jupiter’s largest moons—Io, Europa, and Ganymede—were known to produce distinct auroral signatures.

However, the farthest moon, Callisto, remained an enigma.

Despite numerous attempts using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, Callisto’s footprints were faint and difficult to detect, often overshadowed by the bright Main Auroral Oval, the region where auroras are prominently observed.

NASA’s Juno Mission has been in orbit around Jupiter since 2016, providing an unprecedented close-up view of these polar light displays.

To capture Callisto’s footprint, the main auroral oval needs to be bypassed while imaging the polar regions.

Additionally, to incorporate it into the suite of instruments analyzing the fields and particles within Juno’s payload, the spacecraft’s path must cross the magnetic field line linking Callisto to Jupiter.

These necessary conditions coincidentally occurred during Juno’s 22nd orbit of the giant planet in September 2019, leading to the discovery of Callisto’s Auroral Footprint and offering samples of the magnetic fields related to particle populations, electromagnetic waves, and interactions.

Jupiter’s magnetic field extends far beyond its largest moon, forming a vast area (magnetosphere) where solar wind flows from the sun.

Just like solar storms on Earth can push the Northern Lights to lower latitudes, Jupiter’s auroras are also influenced by solar activity.

In September 2019, a significant and dense solar stream impacted Jupiter’s magnetosphere, causing the auroral ellipse to shift towards the equator, revealing a faint yet distinct feature associated with Callisto.

This finding confirms that all four Galilean moons leave their imprint on Jupiter’s atmosphere, with Callisto’s footprints closely resembling those of its inner companions, thus completing the family portrait marked by Galilean Moon Auroras.

“Our observations substantiate the electrodynamic coupling between Callisto and Jupiter,” stated Dr. Jonas Lavia, a researcher at Astrophysics-Planetology and CNRS, along with colleagues.

“This combination will undergo further examination by NASA’s JUICE mission, which was successfully launched in April 2023. This mission will facilitate repeated explorations of Callisto and its local environment, enhancing our understanding of the magnetospheric interactions between Callisto and Jupiter.”

“Reported in situ and remote observations complete the family portrait of the footprints of Galilean Moon Auroras, addressing a long-standing question about whether Callisto’s electromagnetic interactions differ fundamentally from the inner three Galilean satellites.”

“The observed similarities in both the auroral structure and the in situ characteristics of electrons point to the universal physical mechanisms at play in the magnetospheric interaction of moons and stars, akin to other binary systems accessible within the solar system and beyond.”

The team’s paper was published this week in the journal Nature Communications.

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J. Ravia et al. 2025. in situ Remote observation of Callisto’s UV footprint by Juno spacecraft. Nat Commun 16, 7791; doi:10.1038/s41467-025-62520-4

Source: www.sci.news

Junho Observes Unusual Plasma Waves in Jupiter’s Aurora

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Planetary researchers, utilizing data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft, have identified a novel type of plasma wave in the Aurora Zone above Jupiter’s North Pole.

This image merges observations from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope with optical images and ultraviolet observations of Jovian Aurora. Image credit: NASA/ESA.

“While the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has supplied some infrared images of the Aurora, Juno is unique as the first spacecraft to take a polar orbit around Jupiter,” stated Dr. Ali Suleiman from the University of Minnesota.

“The regions surrounding a magnetized planet like Jupiter are filled with plasma, a superheated state where atoms dissociate into electrons and ions.”

“These particles are propelled towards the planet’s atmosphere, causing the gas to illuminate as auroras.”

“On Earth, this phenomenon manifests as the recognizable green and blue lights.”

“However, Jupiter’s auroras are generally not visible to the naked eye and require UV and infrared instruments for observation.”

The research team discovered that the polar plasma density on Jupiter is so low, in combination with its strong magnetic field, that the plasma waves exhibit very low frequencies, unlike those observed around Earth.

“Plasma behaves like a liquid but is influenced by both its own magnetic field and external fields,” remarked Professor Robert Rysack from the University of Minnesota.

“Our study also sheds light on how particles inundate the polar regions, in contrast to Earth, where Jupiter’s intricate magnetic fields give rise to auroras arranged in a donut-like pattern around the poles.”

“As Juno advances its mission to further investigate this new phenomenon, we aim to collect additional data.”

The team’s findings were published in the journal on July 16th, 2025, in Physical Review Letters.

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R. Lysak et al. 2025. A new plasma regime in Jupiter’s Aurora Zone. Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 035201; doi:10.1103/fn63-qmb7

Source: www.sci.news

Ganymede, Jupiter’s Moon, May Function as a Massive Dark Matter Detector

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View of Ganymede from NASA’s Juno spacecraft

junocam/nasa/jpl-caltech/swri/msss/kalleheikki kannisto

Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s moons, has the potential to act as a significant dark matter detector, with upcoming space missions possibly unveiling unique dark matter craters on its ancient terrain.

Researchers typically seek dark matter by looking for lightweight particles that seldom interact with normal matter, employing large, insulated underground detectors. Alternatively, another category of dark matter particles could grow from the size of a basketball to that of an asteroid, but these are infrequent and interact rarely with conventional matter. To detect these hefty dark matter particles, a detector of lunar or planetary scale is necessary to account for their scarcity.

William Derocco from the University of Maryland has proposed that Ganymede, the solar system’s largest moon, may hold clues to these large dark matter particles. His research indicates that they could create a unique crater on the moon’s icy surface, preserved for millions of years due to its stable geology.

Derocco estimates the extent to which these giant dark matter particles penetrate Ganymede’s thick ice layers, finding that they reach the subterranean oceans, fostering unique minerals deeper than a standard asteroid might.

Future missions, such as NASA’s Europa Clipper and ESA’s JUICE, might be able to identify these dark material craters from orbit. Derocco believes these features will be relatively small and distinct, separated from other geological formations. He suggests that “if an underground intrusion radar is used, it may reveal this melted ice column extending down through the ice.”

Utilizing a moon-sized dark matter detector could help identify particles that elude detection on Earth, according to Zachary Picker from UCLA. He states, “Experiments on Earth struggle to find dark matter particles the size of a bowling ball. Particles the size of a refrigerator or car have interactions that are too infrequent.”

The proposal is thorough and well-reasoned, as noted by Bradley Cabana from the University of Cantabria in Spain. “There’s no compelling physical rationale to assume the existence of such massive dark matter particles,” he states. “It’s about exploring all possibilities.” He describes these as extraordinary objects, incredibly dense and held together by formidable forces from obscure sectors.

Topics:

  • Dark matter/
  • Space exploration

Source: www.newscientist.com

Studies indicate that Jupiter’s clouds are made up of ammonium bisulfide

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Astronomers have long believed that Jupiter's upper clouds, which form the planet's iconic light brown bands, are made of frozen ammonia. But new research shows that these clouds are actually lower in the atmosphere than we thought, and are made of ammonium bisulfide mixed with smog.

Hubble's photos of Jupiter show an ever-changing landscape due to its turbulent atmosphere. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Citizen scientist Steve Hill has previously shown that it is possible to map a planet's atmosphere using just a special colored filter and a backyard telescope.

These results provided the first clue that the clouds are too deep in Jupiter's warm atmosphere to match clouds made of ammonia ice.

To find out, Hill and a team of professional astronomers from the University of Oxford, the University of Leicester and the British Astronomical Society used the MUSE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) to study the atmospheres of gas giant planets. did.

“MUSE will be able to scan Jupiter's atmosphere at different wavelengths and map the different molecules that make up Jupiter's atmosphere,” they said.

Their study shows that a new approach using backyard telescopes or VLT/MUSE can map the abundance of ammonia in Jupiter's atmosphere with remarkable accuracy.

In terms of clouds, they concluded that Jupiter's atmosphere closely resembles a layered cake.

A cloud of ammonium hydrosulfide covers the upper layer, but decorations of ammonia ice clouds carried to the top by strong vertical convection can also be seen.

However, the overall structure of the cake is still not fully understood, and the work of citizen scientists may be the key to figuring it out.

So the next time you gaze at Jupiter or Saturn from your backyard, you just might be uncovering some hidden secrets in our solar system.

“We tested the reliability of the filter imaging technique by applying it to VLT/MUSE observations of Jupiter and found that the method closely matches more sophisticated analyzes of these observations and is also consistent with observations of Jupiter.” We have shown that the microwave wavelengths studied by NASA's Juno spacecraft and the Super Large Array yield surprisingly reliable results,” the astronomers said.

“We show that the main reflection level at red wavelengths is at the 2-3 bar level, which is much lower than the expected ammonia ice cloud condensation level of 0.7 bar, and the ammonia We conclude that ice cannot be the main cloud component.”

“We also showed that the same technique can be applied to MUSE observations of Saturn, where extracted ammonia maps were measured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope at pressures greater than 2 We found a very good agreement with the ammonia abundance.

of findings will appear in Geophysical Research Journal: Planets.

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Patrick G.J. Irwin others. 2025. Clouds and ammonia in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are determined from band depth analysis of VLT/MUSE observations. JGR Planets 130 (1): e2024JE008622;doi: 10.1029/2024JE008622

Source: www.sci.news

New research indicates that Jupiter’s clouds are made up of ammonium bisulfide

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Astronomers have long believed that Jupiter’s upper clouds, which form the planet’s iconic light brown bands, are made of frozen ammonia. But new research shows that these clouds are actually lower in the atmosphere than we thought, and are made of ammonium bisulfide mixed with smog.

Hubble’s photos of Jupiter show an ever-changing landscape due to its turbulent atmosphere. Image credits: NASA / ESA / Hubble / Amy Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center / Michael H. Wong, University of California, Berkeley / Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

Citizen scientist Steve Hill has previously shown that it is possible to map a planet’s atmosphere using just a special colored filter and a backyard telescope.

These results provided the first clue that the clouds are too deep in Jupiter’s warm atmosphere to match clouds made of ammonia ice.

To find out, Hill and a team of professional astronomers from the University of Oxford, the University of Leicester and the British Astronomical Society used the MUSE instrument on ESO’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) to study the atmospheres of gas giant planets. did.

“MUSE will be able to scan Jupiter’s atmosphere at different wavelengths and map the different molecules that make up Jupiter’s atmosphere,” they said.

Their study shows that a new approach using backyard telescopes or VLT/MUSE can map the abundance of ammonia in Jupiter’s atmosphere with remarkable precision.

In terms of clouds, they concluded that Jupiter’s atmosphere closely resembles a layered cake.

Ammonium hydrosulfide clouds cover the upper levels, and in some cases decorations of ammonia ice clouds carried to the top by strong vertical convection can be seen.

However, the overall structure of the cake is still not completely understood, and the work of citizen scientists may be the key to figuring it out.

So the next time you gaze at Jupiter or Saturn from your backyard, you just might be uncovering some hidden secrets in our solar system.

“We tested the reliability of the filter imaging technique by applying it to VLT/MUSE observations of Jupiter and found that the method closely matches more sophisticated analyzes of these observations and is also consistent with observations of Jupiter. “We have shown that the microwave wavelengths studied by NASA’s Juno spacecraft and the Super Large Array yield surprisingly reliable results,” the astronomers said.

“We show that the predominant reflection level at red wavelengths is at the 2-3 bar level, which is much lower than the expected ammonia ice cloud condensation level of 0.7 bar, and the ammonia We conclude that ice cannot be the main cloud component.”

“We also showed that the same technique can be applied to MUSE observations of Saturn, where extracted ammonia maps were measured by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope at pressures greater than 2 We found a very good agreement with the ammonia abundance.

of findings will appear in Geophysical Research Journal: Planets.

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Patrick G.J. Irwin others. 2025. Clouds and ammonia in the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn are determined from band depth analysis of VLT/MUSE observations. JGR Planets 130 (1): e2024JE008622;doi: 10.1029/2024JE008622

Source: www.sci.news

New research indicates that Jupiter’s moon Io does not have an underground magma ocean

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Juno and Galileo’s volcanic activity on Io, Jupiter’s innermost Galilean moon and the most volcanically active object in the solar system, is unlikely to originate from a global magma ocean just below the surface. Deep space networks and astronomical observations, according to new analysis of Doppler data.

The internal structure of Io revealed by this research. Image credit: Sofia Shen / NASA / JPL / Caltech.

Slightly larger than Earth’s moon, Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system.

It is the innermost of Jupiter’s Galilean moons, which in addition to Io includes Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

Trapped in a gravitational tug of war between Jupiter, Europa, and Ganymede, Io is constantly squeezed, causing frictional heat to build up within its interior, which is thought to be the cause of sustained and widespread volcanic activity.

Volcanic activity on the Moon was first discovered in 1979. That’s when Linda Morabito, an engineer on NASA’s Voyager program, spotted an eruption plume in one of the images taken by the spacecraft during its famous Grand Tour of the outer planets.

Since then, countless observations have been made from both space telescopes and telescopes on Earth documenting Io’s restless nature.

“Io is Galileo’s innermost moon, orbiting Jupiter every 42.5 hours,” said Juno collaborator Dr. Ryan Park of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and colleagues.

“It has an average diameter of 3,643 km and a bulk density of 3,528 kg/m.3 As such, it is approximately 5% larger than the Moon, both in diameter and density.”

“Io’s eccentric orbit changes its distance from Jupiter by about 3,500 km, which leads to fluctuations in Jupiter’s gravitational pull.”

“Similar to the Moon’s tides caused by Earth, these gravitational fluctuations cause tidal deformations on Io, which are theorized to serve as the main energy source for the intense volcanism and infrared radiation observed on Io’s surface.”

The amount of tidal energy could be enough to cause Io’s interior to melt, potentially forming a magma ocean underground, but this theory is controversial.

Measuring the extent of Io’s tidal deformation could help determine whether the shallow magma ocean theory is plausible.

“Since the discovery of Morabito, planetary scientists have wondered how volcanoes were fed by lava beneath the Earth’s surface,” said Scott Bolton, Ph.D., principal investigator at Juno and a researcher at the Southwest Research Institute.

“Was there a shallow ocean of white-hot magma that fueled the volcano, or was the source more local?”

“We knew data from Juno’s two very close approaches could give us insight into how this beleaguered satellite actually works.”



Io’s arctic region was captured by NASA’s Juno on December 30, 2023, during the spacecraft’s 57th approach to the gas giant. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Gerald Eichstädt.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew very close to Io in December 2023 and February 2024, coming within about 1,500 km of the surface.

During its approach, Juno communicated with NASA’s Deep Space Network and acquired high-precision dual-frequency Doppler data. This data was used to measure Io’s gravity by tracking how it affects the spacecraft’s acceleration.

Combining these observations with archival Doppler data from NASA’s Galileo mission and ground-based telescopes, the researchers calculated how much Io is deformed by tidal forces.

This result is inconsistent with what would be expected if a shallow global magma ocean existed, suggesting that Io has a nearly solid mantle.

It is not yet known whether there are regions of magma deep within the moon.

The findings show that tidal forces do not necessarily create global magma oceans, which could have implications for our understanding of other moons such as Enceladus and Europa.

“Juno’s discovery that tidal forces don’t always produce global magma oceans not only prompts us to rethink what we know about Io’s interior,” Dr. Park said.

“It has implications for our understanding of other moons such as Enceladus and Europa, as well as exoplanets and super-Earths.”

“Our new findings provide an opportunity to rethink what we know about planet formation and evolution.”

The team’s paper published in this week’s magazine nature.

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RS Park others. Due to Io’s tidal reactions, shallow magma oceans do not form. nature published online on December 12, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08442-5

Source: www.sci.news

Astronomers witness Jupiter’s ephemeral dark polar ellipse in ultraviolet light

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Earth-sized ovals at Jupiter's north and south poles, visible only at ultraviolet (UV) wavelengths, appear and disappear at seemingly random intervals, according to a study led by astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley.

False-color ultraviolet image of the entire planet showing a hood or cap of hydrocarbon fog covering the south pole. The edge of the arctic hood is visible at the top. Image credit: Troy Tsubota and Michael Wong, University of California, Berkeley.

Jupiter's dark ultraviolet ellipses are mostly located directly beneath bright auroral bands at each pole, similar to Earth's northern and southern lights.

This spot absorbs more ultraviolet light than the surrounding area, so it appears darker in images from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.

In annual images of the planet taken by Hubble between 2015 and 2022, dark ultraviolet ellipses appear 75% of the time at the south pole, but only in one in eight images taken at the north pole. A dark oval will appear.

The dark ultraviolet ellipses suggest that unusual processes are occurring in Jupiter's strong magnetic field. This magnetic field propagates all the way to the poles and deep into the atmosphere, much deeper than the magnetic processes that produce auroras on Earth.

The dark ultraviolet ellipse was first detected in the 1990s by Hubble at the North and South poles, and later also at the North Pole by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which flew close to Jupiter in 2000, but received little attention.

In a new analysis of Hubble images, University of California, Berkeley undergraduate student Troy Tsubota and his colleagues found that the oval shape is a common feature of Antarctica. They counted eight Southern Ultraviolet Dark Ovals (SUDOs) between 1994 and 2022.

In all 25 Hubble Earth maps showing Jupiter's north pole, only two northern ultraviolet dark ellipses (NUDOs) were found.

Most of the Hubble images were taken as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL).

“In the first two months, we realized that these OPAL images were kind of a gold mine. We quickly built this analysis pipeline and asked what we could get by sending all the images. We were able to confirm that,” says Tsubota.

“That's when we realized we could actually do good science and real data analysis and have conversations with our collaborators about why these things appear.”

The authors also aimed to determine the cause of these areas of dense fog.

They theorized that the dark ellipse was likely being stirred up from above by a vortex created when the planet's magnetic field lines rub at two very far apart locations. One is the friction in the ionosphere and the Earth's sheet, the rotational motion of which has previously been detected using ground-based telescopes. Hot ionized plasma around the planet emitted by the volcanic moon Io.

The vortex rotates fastest within the ionosphere and gradually weakens as it reaches deeper layers.

Like a tornado landing on dusty ground, the deepest parts of the vortex stir up the hazy atmosphere, creating the dense patches observed by astronomers.

It is unclear whether the mixing will dredge more haze from below or create additional haze.

Based on their observations, researchers believe that the oval shape may form over about a month and disappear within a few weeks.

Astronomer Dr Shih Zhang said: “The dark elliptical haze is 50 times thicker than typical concentrations. This is because this haze is due to the dynamics of the vortex, rather than a chemical reaction caused by high-energy particles from the upper atmosphere. This suggests that it is likely to have been formed by At the University of California, Santa Cruz.

“Our observations show that the timing and location of these high-energy particles do not correlate with the appearance of the dark ellipses.”

This discovery, which the OPAL project was designed to discover, will reveal how the atmospheric dynamics of the solar system's giant planets differ from what we know on Earth. .

“Studying the connections between different atmospheric layers is extremely important for all planets, whether exoplanets, Jupiter, or Earth,” said Dr. Michael Wong, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley.

“We see evidence of processes connecting everything throughout the Jovian system, from internal dynamos to satellites, plasma torii, ionospheres, and stratospheric haze.”

“Finding these examples helps us understand the entire planet.”

of study Published in a magazine natural astronomy.

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TK Tsubota others. Jupiter's ultraviolet to dark polar ellipse shows the connection between the magnetosphere and atmosphere. Nat Astronpublished online on November 26, 2024. doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02419-0

This article is adapted from the original release by the University of California, Berkeley.

Source: www.sci.news

NASA launches Europa Clipper spacecraft towards Jupiter’s icy moons

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Europa Clipper launched from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 14, 2024 at 12:06 pm EDT, beginning a six-year journey to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The spacecraft will fly 49 times, approaching as close as 25 kilometers. Searching for the ingredients of life below the surface (16 miles).

Europa Clipper will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida on October 14, 2024 at 12:06 pm EDT. Image credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett.

european clipper This is the largest spacecraft ever built by NASA for a planetary mission.

Expanding the giant solar array, the spacecraft could span the length of a basketball court (30.5 meters, or 100 feet, end to end).

“We congratulate the European Clipper team as it begins its first journey to the ocean world beyond Earth,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

“NASA is a world leader in exploration and discovery, and the Europa Clipper mission is no exception.”

“By exploring the unknown, Europa Clipper will help us better understand whether there is potential for life not only within our solar system, but also on the billions of moons and planets outside the sun. .”

“We couldn't be more excited about the incredible and unprecedented science that NASA's European Clipper mission will bring for generations to come,” said Nikki Fox, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters. states.

“All of NASA's science is interconnected, and Europa Clipper's scientific discoveries will help other missions in Jupiter exploration, including Juno, Galileo, and Voyager, explore the possibility of inhabited planets beyond our home planet. We will build on the legacy we have created as we explore possible worlds.”

“We are very happy to be able to send Europa Clipper to explore a potentially habitable ocean world, thanks to all of our colleagues and partners who have worked so hard to date.” said Dr. Laurie Leshin, Director of NASA's Jet Division. Promotion Institute.

“The Europa Clipper will undoubtedly deliver amazing science. It is always bittersweet to send something we have worked so hard on for so many years on its long journey, but this amazing team We know that spacecraft will expand our knowledge of our solar system and provide inspiration for future exploration.”

“As Europa Clipper embarks on its journey, I will reflect on the countless dedications, innovations, and teamwork that made this moment possible,” said Europa Clipper project manager, also at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Jordan Evans said.

“This launch is more than just the next chapter in solar system exploration. It is a journey into another ocean, driven by our common curiosity and the quest to answer the question 'Are we alone?' A leap forward to uncover the mysteries of the world. ”

The journey to Jupiter will be a long 2.9 billion kilometers (1.8 billion miles), and instead of heading straight there, Europa Clipper will orbit Mars and then Earth, speeding past it.

The spacecraft is scheduled to begin orbiting Jupiter in April 2030 and begin its 49 science-focused flybys of Europa in 2031 while orbiting the gas giant.

This orbit is designed to take full advantage of the science Europa Clipper can perform and minimize exposure to Jupiter's notoriously intense radiation.

Scientists on the mission will be able to “see” how thick Europa's ice shell is and gain a deeper understanding of the vast ocean beneath.

They will examine surface material that may have come up from below, look for fingerprints of organic compounds that form the building blocks of life, and sample gases emitted by the moon for evidence of habitability. I will.

They will analyze the results and look for signs of a water world that could support life beneath the moon's frozen shell.

“It's important for us to picture what that alien ocean is like, the chemistry and biochemistry that might be going on there,” said Europa Clipper team member said Dr. Morgan Cable, an astrobiologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Its research centers on searching for the types of salts, ices, and organic materials that make up the main ingredients of a habitable world.

This is where an imager called MISE (Mapping Imaging Spectrometer for Europa) comes into play.

Operating in the infrared, the spacecraft's MISE splits the reflected light into different wavelengths to identify the corresponding atoms and molecules.

The mission will also use an instrument called E-THEMIS (European Thermal Emission Imaging System), which also operates in infrared, to explore potential sites near Europa's surface where plumes could bring deep-sea material closer to the surface. Attempt to identify hotspots.

The task of the EIS (Europa Imaging System) is to take clear, detailed pictures of Europa's surface using both narrow-image and wide-image cameras.

“EIS imagers will provide incredibly high-resolution images to understand how Europa's surface continues to evolve and change,” said Dr. Cable.

NASA's Cassini mission has discovered giant plumes of water vapor spewing from jets near the south pole of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus.

Europa may also emit a misty column of water drawn from the ocean or from reservoirs within its shell.

The Europa Clipper's instrument, called Europa-UVS (Europa Ultraviolet Spectrograph), can explore the plume and study any material that could be ejected into space.

Regardless of whether Europa has a plume or not, the spacecraft will carry two instruments to analyze small amounts of gas and dust particles ejected from the moon's surface by collisions with micrometeorites and high-energy particles. It has been. MASPEX (MAss SPECtrometer for Planetary Exploration/Europa) and SUDA (Surface Dust Analyzer).

These instruments capture small pieces of material emitted from surfaces and turn them into charged particles that reveal their composition.

“The spacecraft will study the gases and grains emitted by Europa by sticking out its tongue, tasting the grains, and inhaling those gases,” Dr. Cable said.

The mission will also explore Europa's external and internal structures in a variety of ways. That's because both structures have far-reaching implications for the moon's habitability.

To gain insight into the thickness of ice shells and the presence of oceans, as well as their depth and salinity, the mission will measure the moon's induced magnetic field with the ECM (European Clipper Magnetometer) and use that data to analyze currents from flowing charged particles. We plan to combine it with the measured values ​​of . Around Europa — Data provided by PIMS (Plasma Instrument for Magnetic Sounding).

In addition, mission scientists will use REASON (European Assessment and Near-Surface Sounding Radar), which monitors up to 18 miles (29 km) away, to detect every detail from the presence of ocean to ice structure and topography. I plan to investigate. several miles) into the shell. itself a potentially habitable environment.

Measuring the changes that Europa's gravity causes in radio signals should help determine the thickness of the ice and the depth of the ocean.

“Non-ice material on the surface can migrate into deep internal pockets of brine within the ice shell,” said Dr. Steve Vance, a member of the European Clipper team and an astrobiologist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Some may be large enough to be considered lakes, or at least ponds.”

“Using the collected data to perform large-scale computer modeling of Europa's internal structure, we may be able to uncover the ocean's composition and estimate its temperature profile.”

“Whatever the situation, the discovery will open a new chapter in the search for extraterrestrial life.”

“The European Clipper is almost certain to raise as many questions as it answers, if not more, in a completely different class than we have been thinking about for the past 25 years.”

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This article is based on a press release provided by NASA.

Source: www.sci.news

Hubble observations reveal Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is wobbling and changing in size

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Astronomers using the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope detected Jupiter’s most distinctive feature, the Great Red Spot, on eight dates over a single 90-day oscillation period from December 2023 to March 2024. I observed it.

simon others. measured the size, shape, brightness, color, and vorticity of the Great Red Spot over one complete oscillation cycle. Image credit: NASA/ESA/Amy Simon, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/Joseph DePasquale, STScI.

“We knew its motion varied slightly with longitude, but we didn’t expect it to oscillate in magnitude,” said Dr. Amy Simon, an astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

“As far as we know, it has never been identified before.”

“This is really the first time we’ve had a proper imaging rhythm for the Great Red Spot.”

“Using Hubble’s high resolution, we can say that the Great Red Spot is steadily moving in and out at the same time as it moves faster and slower.”

“This was very unexpected. There is no hydrodynamic explanation at this time.”

Dr. Simon and colleagues used Hubble to zoom in on the Great Red Spot and closely observe its size, shape, and subtle color changes.

“If you look closely, you can see that many things are changing every day,” Dr. Simon said.

“This includes ultraviolet observations showing that the clear center of the storm is brightest when the Great Red Spot is at its maximum magnitude during its oscillation period.”

“This indicates less absorption of haze in the upper atmosphere.”

“As the Great Red Spot accelerates and decelerates, it’s working against the jet stream, which has strong north and south winds,” said Dr. Mike Wong, an astronomer at the University of California, Berkeley.

“It’s similar to how having too many ingredients in the middle of a sandwich forces a slice of bread to expand.”

The authors contrasted this with Neptune. On Neptune, dark spots can drift violently within their latitudes without a strong jet stream to hold them in place.

The Great Red Spot is held at southern latitudes trapped between the jet stream, with limited telescopic observations of Earth.

Astronomers predict that the star will continue to shrink and then assume a stable, less elongated shape.

“Currently, we’re overfilling that latitudinal band compared to wind fields,” Dr. Simon said.

“Once it contracts within that band, the wind actually holds it in place.”

“We predict that the size of the Great Red Spot will probably stabilize, but so far Hubble has only observed it for one oscillation period.”

team’s result Published in Planetary Science Journal.

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Amy A. Simon others. 2024. A detailed study of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot over a 90-day oscillation period. planet. Science. J 5,223;doi: 10.3847/PSJ/ad71d1

Source: www.sci.news

European Clipper mission to Jupiter’s icy moons launched by NASA

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For decades, Jupiter’s icy moons have been considered one of the most promising places in the solar system to search for extraterrestrial life. Europa, thought to have an underground ocean and a potentially habitable environment, has long been considered an attractive target in our cosmic backyard.

Now humans are ready to take a closer look at Jupiter’s fourth largest moon.

NASA is scheduled to launch a new robotic mission to Jupiter as soon as noon Monday. The probe, named Europa Clipper, is the largest spacecraft the company has ever built for a planetary science mission.

Assuming no further launch delays, Europa Clipper is scheduled to lift off Monday at 12:06 pm ET aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The launch was originally scheduled for Thursday, but NASA was forced to cancel due to Hurricane Milton, which made landfall late Wednesday near Siesta Key along Florida’s west coast. Kennedy Space Center was closed as the storm battered the state, bringing high winds and heavy rain to much of the Florida peninsula.

The delay was a minor setback in a mission that took more than a decade to plan and develop.

“It feels surreal,” said Jordan Evans, mission project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “There were battles at every level, from the early stages of the initial concept of the mission, to getting approval, passing each milestone and overcoming various problems along the way. At this point, the team was ready. It’s incredible to watch.”

Europa Clipper is not embarking on a life-detecting mission. Rather, they will study the composition of the icy moon, as well as its internal structure and geology. This information could help scientists determine whether Europa currently has the right ingredients to support life, or whether they existed at some point.

“We’re looking for a habitable environment,” said Bonnie Blatty, mission deputy project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. “We believe that liquid water is a necessity for life, and that it exists. Whether through active geology or something else, we need the right chemistry to act like a battery to propel life. It’s energy.”Parallel.”

Blatty said there is strong scientific evidence that a vast ocean lurks beneath the moon’s icy surface. In fact, Europa’s interior ocean is estimated to be twice the volume of all of Earth’s oceans combined, according to NASA.

A mosaic image of Jupiter’s moon Europa acquired by a camera aboard NASA’s Galileo spacecraft on November 25, 1999.
NASA

Europa Clipper is scheduled to enter Jupiter’s orbit in 2030 after a six-year, 1.8 billion mile journey.

The 49 flybys of the moon over four years will provide researchers with new insights.

“We’ll definitely be able to tell how thick the ice crust is and whether there are small ponds there,” Blatty said. “As for the ocean, I think we will someday find out how deep it is.”

To make these observations, the spacecraft will fly through a harsh radiation environment created by Jupiter’s massive magnetic field, which NASA says is about 20,000 times stronger than Earth’s.

“If we were to go into orbit around Europe and do research, even the most radiation-resistant electronic equipment would likely be destroyed by radiation within a month or two,” Evans said. said.

Instead, mission managers developed a way for the probe to orbit Jupiter in harmony with the icy moon. This is a kind of cosmic duet that could help protect equipment from prolonged exposure to harsh radiation.

“So every six times Europa orbits Jupiter, or every 21 days, we’ll be at a precise position in space, right next to Europa,” Evans said. “And because each flyby will be different, we will be able to cover almost the entire world’s moon.”

However, the team will need to exercise patience. Before reaching Jupiter, the spacecraft will first pass Mars and then circle Earth again, using the gravity of both planets to blast it deep into space.

Europa was discovered in 1610 by Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei. This icy object is the fourth largest of Jupiter’s 95 known moons.

Several space probes have previously observed Europa, including NASA’s Voyager 1, Voyager 2, and Galileo missions, but this will be NASA’s first dedicated mission to the Moon, and will be the first mission for NASA to go beyond Earth. This will be my first time researching the ocean world.

This milestone has been a long time coming for Blatty, who wrote a paper on Europa as a graduate student at Cornell University in the 1980s.

“I’ve actually only been in this role for two and a half years. I didn’t start it,” she said. “But I’m so happy to be back to something so near and dear to my heart. It’s truly a dream.”

Source: www.nbcnews.com

Researchers develop 3D radiation map of Jupiter’s moons

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Using data collected by the Advanced Stellar Compass (ASC) and Stellar Reference Unit (SRU) on NASA’s Juno spacecraft, scientists have created the first complete 3D radiation map of the Jupiter system. The map characterizes the intensity of high-energy particles near the orbit of the icy moon Europa and shows how the radiation environment is shaped by small moons orbiting close to Jupiter’s rings.

This diagram shows a model of radiation intensity at different points on the Juno spacecraft’s orbit around Jupiter. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / DTU.

“With Juno, we’ve been trying to invent new ways to use sensors to learn about nature, and we’ve been using many of our science instruments in ways that were not originally intended,” said Juno principal investigator Dr. Scott Bolton, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.

“This is the first detailed radiation map of this high-energy region and marks a major step forward in understanding how Jupiter’s radiation environment works.”

“It’s significant that we’ve been able to map this area in detail for the first time, because we don’t have instruments designed to look for radiation.”

“This map will help plan observations for future missions to the Jovian system.”

Juno’s ASC instrument, consisting of four star cameras mounted on the spacecraft’s magnetometer boom, takes images of the stars to determine the spacecraft’s orientation in space.

But the instrument is also a valuable detector for detecting the flow of high-energy particles within Jupiter’s magnetosphere.

The cameras record “hard radiation” – ionizing radiation that affects the spacecraft with enough energy to penetrate the ASC’s shielding.

“The ASC takes an image of the star every quarter of a second,” said Juno scientist Dr. John Leif Jorgensen, a researcher at the Technical University of Denmark.

“The highly energetic electrons that penetrate the shield leave distinctive signatures in our images, like firefly trails.”

“The device is programmed to count the number of fireflies, allowing us to accurately calculate the amount of radiation.”

Juno’s orbit is constantly changing, so the spacecraft has traversed nearly every region of space near Jupiter.

The ASC data suggests that there is more very high-energy radiation, relative to low-energy radiation, near Europa’s orbit than previously thought.

The data also confirm that there are more energetic electrons on the side of Europa facing in the direction of its orbital motion than on the rear side of Europa.

This is because most of the electrons in Jupiter’s magnetosphere pass Europa from behind due to the planet’s rotation, but the very energetic electrons flow backwards, like a fish swimming upstream, and slam into the front of Europa.

The Jupiter radiation data is not the ASC’s first scientific contribution to the mission: even before it arrived at Jupiter, ASC data was used to measure interstellar dust bombarding Juno.

Using the same dust-detection techniques, the imager also discovered a previously undiscovered comet, identifying tiny pieces of the spacecraft ejected by fine dust particles that collided with Juno at high speed.

Like Juno’s ASC, the SRU will act as a radiation detector and low-light imaging instrument.

Data from both instruments show that, like Europa, small shepherd moons that orbit inside or near the edges of Jupiter’s rings and help maintain their shape also appear to interact with the planet’s radiation environment.

If the spacecraft flies over magnetic field lines that connect to ring moons or dense dust, the radiation dose to both the ASC and SRU drops sharply.

The SRU is also collecting rare low-light images of the rings from Juno’s unique vantage point.

“Many mysteries remain about how Jupiter’s rings formed, and very few images have been collected by previous spacecraft,” said SRU principal investigator Dr. Heidi Becker, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“If you’re lucky, you might even be able to capture a little shepherd moon in your photo.”

“These images allow us to get a better idea of where the ring moons are currently located and to see the distribution of dust relative to the distance from Jupiter.”

of Survey results Will be published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Source: www.sci.news

Juno Makes Groundbreaking Discovery of ‘Hot Ring’ on Io, Jupiter’s Volcanic Moon

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These bright (hot) “heat rings” are a common phenomenon and indicate active lava lakes. Jupiter Infrared Auroral Mapper (JIRAM) instrument aboard NASA’s Juno spacecraft.

Visible, infrared and temperature maps of Loki Patera and Dazhbog Patera. Image courtesy of Mura others., doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01486-5.

Io is the innermost of Jupiter’s four Galilean moons and the fourth largest moon in the solar system.

Apart from Earth, it is the only known place in the solar system with volcanoes that spew hot lava like Earth’s.

Io has over 400 active volcanoes, which are caused by tidal heating due to gravity from Jupiter and the other Jovian moons.

There are many theories about the types of volcanic eruptions on the Moon, but little data to support them.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will pass by Io in May and October 2023, coming within about 35,000 km (21,700 miles) and 13,000 km (8,100 miles), respectively.

Among Juno’s observational instruments giving a closer look at the fascinating moon was JIRAM.

JIRAM is designed to capture infrared light emitted from deep within Jupiter, studying the weather layer 50 to 70 km (30 to 45 miles) below Jupiter’s cloud tops.

However, during Juno’s long mission, the mission team also used the instrument to study moons such as Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.

JIRAM images of Io showed the presence of bright rings surrounding the base of many hotspots.

“The high spatial resolution of JIRAM’s infrared images, combined with Juno’s favorable position during the flyby, revealed that Io’s entire surface is covered by lava lakes in caldera-like formations,” said Dr Alessandro Mura, a researcher at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome and Juno co-investigator.

“In the area of ​​Io’s surface where we have the most complete data, we estimate that about 3% of it is covered by one of these lava lakes. Calderas are large depressions that form when volcanoes erupt and collapse.”

This image taken by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft shows volcanic eruptions on Io. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

JIRAM’s flyby data will not only reveal Io’s rich lava reserves, but also provide a glimpse into what’s going on beneath the surface.

Infrared images of some of Io’s lava lakes show a thin circular layer of lava at the boundary between the central crust that covers most of the lake and the lake walls.

The lack of lava flows above or beyond the lake’s edge suggests melt circulation, demonstrating a balance between the melt erupted into the lava lake and that circulated back into the subsurface system.

“We now know what the most frequent volcanic activity on Io is: huge lava lakes with magma rising and falling,” Dr Mura said.

“The lava crust collapses against the lake wall, forming the typical lava rings seen in Hawaiian lava lakes.”

“The walls are thought to be hundreds of metres high, which explains why magma is not typically observed spilling out of pateras – bowl-shaped formations formed by volcanic activity – and moving across the lunar surface.”

JIRAM data suggests that the surfaces of these Io hotspots consist largely of a rocky crust that periodically moves up and down as one continuous surface due to central upwelling of magma.

In this hypothesis, friction between the crust and the lake wall would prevent it from sliding, causing it to deform and eventually break away, exposing the lava just below the surface.

Another hypothesis, which remains valid, is that magma wells up in the middle of the lake, spreading out and forming a crust that sinks along the lake’s edge, exposing the lava.

“We’re just beginning to look at the results from JIRAM’s approach to Io in December 2023 and February 2024,” said Juno principal investigator Dr. Scott Bolton from the Southwest Research Institute.

“These observations reveal fascinating new information about Io’s volcanic activity.”

“When we combine these new results with Juno’s long-term campaign to monitor and map Io’s never-before-seen north and south pole volcanoes, JIRAM is poised to become one of the most valuable tools for learning about the workings of this tormented world.”

of Investigation result Published in a journal Nature Communications.

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A. Mura others2024. Io’s hot ring as seen by Juno/JIRAM. Community Global Environment 5, 340; doi: 10.1038/s43247-024-01486-5

Source: www.sci.news

Webb studies the intricate makeup of Jupiter’s ionosphere

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Jupiter’s upper atmosphere consists of a neutral thermosphere and an electrically charged ionosphere. Astronomers using the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope have discovered unexpected small-scale intensity features, including arcs, bands, and spots, in the low-latitude ionosphere in the region above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot.

This illustration shows the region observed by Webb, first with its location on the NIRCam image of the entire planet (left), and then the region itself as imaged by Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrometer (NIRSpec) (right). Image credit: NASA / ESA / CSA / Webb / Jupiter ERS Team / J. Schmidt / H. Melin / M. Zamani, ESA and Webb.

Jupiter is one of the brightest objects in the night sky and can be easily seen on a clear night.

Apart from the bright Northern and Southern Lights at Jupiter’s poles, the glow from Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is weak, making details in this region difficult to discern with ground-based telescopes.

But Webb’s infrared sensitivity has allowed scientists to study the upper atmosphere of the infamous Great Red Spot in unprecedented detail.

The upper atmosphere of this gas giant is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the atmosphere below it.

Here you can see the bright and vibrant aurora borealis and southern lights, created by volcanic material erupting from Jupiter’s moon Io.

However, as one approaches the equator, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is influenced by incoming sunlight.

Because Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight that Earth does, astronomers predicted that this region would be essentially homogeneous.

Astronomer Henrik Melin of the University of Leicester and his colleagues observed the Great Red Spot in July 2022 using an Integral Field Unit. Webb’s near-infrared spectrometer (NIR Spec).

Their early public science observations aimed to investigate whether this region was in fact dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was the subject of Webb’s observations.

They were surprised to find that the upper atmosphere contains a variety of complex structures, including dark arcs and bright spots across the entire field of view.

“We probably naively thought this area would be really boring. It’s actually just as interesting, if not more so, than the Northern Lights. Jupiter never fails to surprise us,” Dr Melin said.

The light emitted from this region is driven by sunlight, but the team suggests there must be another mechanism that changes the shape and structure of the upper atmosphere.

“One way this structure can be altered is by gravity waves, similar to how waves crashing on the shore create ripples in the sand,” Dr Melin said.

“These waves originate deep within the turbulent lower atmosphere around the Great Red Spot and can rise in altitude to alter the structure and emissions of the upper atmosphere.”

“These atmospheric waves are occasionally observed on Earth, but they are much weaker than those Webb observed on Jupiter.”

“In the future, we hope to carry out follow-up webbed observations of these complex wave patterns and investigate how they move within the planet’s upper atmosphere to improve our understanding of the energy budget of this region and how its features change over time.”

of Investigation result Published in a journal Natural Astronomy.

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H. Melin othersIrregularities in Jupiter’s ionosphere observed by JWST. Nat AstronPublished online June 21, 2024, doi: 10.1038/s41550-024-02305-9

Source: www.sci.news

New study suggests Jupiter’s Great Red Spot may not be the permanent feature reported by Cassini

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Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is perhaps the best-known atmospheric feature and a popular icon among the solar system’s objects. Its large oval shape, contrasting red color, and long lifespan make it easily visible with a small telescope. A new study led by scientists from the University of the Basque Country, based on historical measurements of its size and motion, shows that the present-day Great Red Spot was probably first reported in 1831 and is not a permanent spot observed by Giovanni Domenico Cassini and others between 1665 and 1713.

The Permanent Spot (PS) and the early Great Red Spot (GRS): (a) drawing of the PS by GD Cassini on 19 January 1672, (b) drawing by S. Swave on 10 May 1851, showing the GRS area as a clear ellipse bounded by a depression (depicted by a dashed red line). (c) photograph taken by AA Common on 3 September 1879 using a 91 cm reflecting telescope at Ealing (London). The GRS appears as a clear "dark" ellipse because it is red and the photographic plate is sensitive to violet-blue wavelengths. (d) photograph taken at Lick Observatory on 14 October 1890 using a yellow filter. All figures show astronomical images of Jupiter (south at top, east at left) to preserve the notes on the drawings. Image courtesy of Sánchez-Lavega others., doi: 10.1029/2024GL108993.

Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is the largest and longest-lasting known vortex of any planet in the solar system.

The formation mechanism that produced this feature is unknown, and its longevity is controversial.

It was also unclear whether the Great Red Spot was the dark oval nicknamed the “Eternal Spot” that astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini and others reported between 1665 and 1713.

“Speculation about the origin of the Great Red Spot dates back to the first telescopic observations by Giovanni Domenico Cassini, who in 1665 discovered a dark oval at the same latitude as the Great Red Spot, which he named a permanent spot, because it was observed by Cassini and other astronomers until 1713,” said Professor Agustin Sánchez Lavega from the University of the Basque Country.

“For the next 118 years, traces of it were lost, and it was only after 1831 that S. Schwabe again observed a clear, almost elliptical structure at the same latitude as the GRS. This can be considered the first observation of the present-day GRS, possibly of the infant GRS.”

“Since then, the Great Red Spot has been regularly observed by telescopes and by various space probes that have visited the planet up to the present day.”

In their study, the authors analysed the change in the size of the Great Red Spot over time, its structure, and the behaviour of two meteorological structures, the former permanent spot and the Great Red Spot.

To do so, they used historical sources dating back to the mid-17th century, shortly after the telescope was invented.

“Based on our measurements of its size and motion, we infer that it is highly unlikely that the current Great Red Spot is the permanent spot observed by Cassini,” Professor Sanchez LaVega said.

“The permanent spot probably disappeared sometime between the mid-18th and 19th centuries, which would put the lifespan of the red spot at least 190 years.”

“The Red Spot, which in 1879 measured 39,000 kilometres along its longest axis, has now shrunk to about 14,000 kilometres and is becoming rounder at the same time.”

“Furthermore, since the 1970s, several space missions have studied this weather phenomenon in detail.”

“Recently, various instruments on the Juno spacecraft in orbit around Jupiter have shown that the Great Red Spot is shallow and thin compared to its horizontal length. Its vertical length is about 500 km.”

To understand how this giant whirlpool formed, the astronomers ran numerical simulations using two complementary models of the behavior of thin vortices in Jupiter’s atmosphere.

Powerful winds prevail on this giant planet, flowing along parallels that alternate in direction and latitude.

To the north of the Great Red Spot, winds blow westward at 180 km/h, while to the south, winds blow in the opposite direction, eastward at 150 km/h.

This creates huge north-south shear in the wind speed, which is the fundamental element that allows vortices to grow internally.

The study explored a variety of mechanisms to explain the formation of the Great Red Spot, including the eruption of a giant superstorm like those rarely observed around its twin planet Saturn, or the merging of several smaller vortices caused by sheared winds.

The results show that although anticyclones form in both cases, their shapes and dynamic characteristics are different from those of the present-day Great Red Spot.

“We believe that if one of these anomalies had occurred, it, or its effects in the atmosphere, would have been observed and reported by astronomers at the time,” Prof Sanchez Lavega said.

In a third set of numerical experiments, the researchers investigated how the GRS may arise from known instabilities in the winds that they believe could produce elongated cells that surround and trap the GRS.

Such cells were early red spots, the proto-Great Red Spot, whose subsequent shrinkage would give rise to the compact, rapidly rotating Great Red Spot observed in the late 19th century.

The formation of large elongated cells has already been observed during the emergence of other major vortices on Jupiter.

“In our simulations, thanks to supercomputers, we were able to find that elongated cells are stable when they rotate around the Great Red Spot at the speed of Jupiter’s winds, which is what you would expect to form due to this instability,” said Dr Enrique García Melendo, an astronomer at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Using two different numerical models, the scientists concluded that if the GRS rotated slower than the surrounding winds, it would break up and the formation of a stable vortex would be impossible.

And if it were very high, the properties of the primordial Great Red Spot would be different from those of the current Great Red Spot.

“Future studies will aim to reconstruct the Great Red Spot’s shrinkage over time and elucidate in more detail the physical mechanisms underlying its persistence,” the authors wrote.

“At the same time, we try to predict whether the Great Red Spot will collapse and disappear when it reaches its size limit, as happened with Cassini’s permanent spot, or whether it will remain stable at its size limit and persist for many years.”

of result Published in a journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Agustin Sanchez Lavega others2024. Origin of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. Geophysical Research Letters 51(12):e2024GL108993; doi:10.1029/2024GL108993

Source: www.sci.news

Study finds that Jupiter’s polar lows are driven by processes reminiscent of those on Earth

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Planetary scientists first became aware of the connection between Earth and Jupiter in 2018, when they noticed striking similarities in images of Jupiter's giant cyclones and turbulent ocean currents. In 2022, they Analyzed High-resolution infrared image of a cyclone on Jupiter taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft. Analysis reveals that a type of convection similar to that seen on Earth helps sustain Jupiter's storms, which can be thousands of miles wide and last for years. The 2022 study focused directly on Jupiter's cyclones, but the authors also saw thin tendrils called filaments in the spaces between the vortices of gas. These filaments have analogues on Earth, and the authors used Juno's detailed images to study whether this similarity to Earth's oceanic and atmospheric processes is merely superficial.

This composite image, created from data collected by the JIRAM instrument on NASA's Juno spacecraft, shows a central cyclone at Jupiter's north pole and eight surrounding cyclones. JIRAM collects data in infrared, and the colors in this composite represent radiated heat. The yellow (thinnest) clouds have a brightness temperature of about -9 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius), while the dark red (thickest) clouds have a brightness temperature of about -181 degrees Fahrenheit (83 degrees Celsius). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / ASI / INAF / JIRAM.

Fronts are often featured in weather forecasts (for example, cold fronts and storm fronts) and apply to both gases and liquids.

A front is a boundary between masses of gas or liquid that have different densities due to differences in properties such as temperature.

In the ocean, fronts can also form due to differences in salinity, which, along with temperature, affects the density of seawater.

The main characteristic of a front is that its leading edge is characterized by strong vertical speed and can generate wind and currents.

To understand the role of the filaments clearly visible during Jupiter's cyclones in the Juno images, Dr. Leah Siegelman of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Dr. Patrice Klein of the California Institute of Technology examined a series of infrared images from Juno.

The series of images was taken 30 seconds apart of Jupiter's north polar region.

Because the images were taken in infrared, the team was able to calculate the temperature, finding that brighter areas were warmer and darker areas were cooler.

On Jupiter, the hotter parts of the atmosphere correspond to thin clouds, while the cooler parts are covered by thicker clouds that block more of the heat emanating from Jupiter's superheated core.

The researchers then tracked the movement of the clouds and filaments over the 30-second intervals between photos to calculate horizontal wind speeds.

These two pieces of information allowed the scientists to apply methods from ocean and atmospheric science to Jupiter to calculate vertical wind speeds that correspond to the temperatures and horizontal wind speeds the researchers derived from the images.

Calculating vertical wind speeds, they found that Jupiter's filaments do in fact move like Earth's fronts.

The vertical wind speeds at the edges of Jupiter's fronts also mean that the fronts transport energy in the form of heat from the planet's hot interior to the upper atmosphere, potentially generating large cyclones.

Although convection is the primary driving force, fronts account for a quarter of the total kinetic energy powering Jupiter's cyclones and 40 percent of the vertical heat transport.

“These cyclones at Jupiter's poles have continued since they were first observed in 2016,” Dr Siegelman said.

“These filaments between the larger vortices are relatively small, but they are a key mechanism for maintaining cyclones.”

“It's intriguing that fronts and convection exist and influence Earth and Jupiter, suggesting that these processes may also exist on other turbulent fluid bodies in the universe.”

“Jupiter's enormous scale and Juno's high-resolution images allow us to more clearly visualize how small-scale phenomena like fronts connect with larger-scale phenomena like cyclones and the atmosphere. These connections are often difficult to observe on Earth because they are much smaller and more ephemeral.”

“But the long-awaited new satellite, SWOT, will make observing these ocean phenomena much easier.”

“There's a kind of cosmic beauty in knowing that these physical mechanisms on Earth exist on other planets far, far away.”

Team paper Published in the journal Natural Physics.

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L. Siegelman & P. ​​Klein. Frontogenesis at high latitudes on Jupiter. National Physical SocietyPublished online June 6, 2024; doi: 10.1038/s41567-024-02516-x

Source: www.sci.news

Volcanic Activity on Jupiter’s Moon Io Discovered by Large Binocular Telescope

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how to use SHARK-VIS device Using the Large Binocular Telescope on Mount Graham in Arizona, US, astronomers have captured the highest-resolution optical images of Io ever taken by a ground-based telescope. The new images allow the astronomers to confirm that large-scale surface changes are occurring around Pele, one of Io's most well-known volcanoes.

Taken with the SHARK-VIS camera on the Large Binocular Telescope on January 10, 2024, this image is the highest resolution image of Io ever taken by an Earth-based telescope. The image combines three spectral bands: infrared, red, and green to highlight the reddish ring around Pele volcano (below and to the right of the Moon's center) and the white ring around Piran Patera to the right of Pele. Image credit: INAF / Large Binocular Telescope Observatory / Georgia State University / SHARK-VIS@LBT / PIF Pedichini / D. Hope / S. Jefferies / G. Li Causi.

Io is slightly larger than Earth's Moon and is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

It is the innermost of Jupiter's Galilean moons, which besides Io include Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.

Io is caught in a gravitational tug-of-war between Jupiter, Europa, and Ganymede, and is constantly compressed, causing frictional heat to build up inside it, which is thought to be the cause of sustained and widespread volcanic activity.

By monitoring Io's surface eruptions, planetary scientists hope to gain insight into the thermal movement of material beneath the moon's surface, its internal structure, and ultimately the mechanisms of tidal heating that drive Io's intense volcanic activity.

Io's volcanic activity was first discovered in 1979, when Linda Morabito, an engineer for NASA's Voyager missions, spotted plumes of smoke in one of the images the spacecraft took during its famous Grand Tour of the outer planets.

Since then, countless observations have been made, both from space and from telescopes on Earth, documenting Io's restless nature.

“Io offers a unique opportunity to learn about the powerful eruptions that contributed to shaping the surfaces of the Earth and Moon long ago,” said Dr Al Conrad, an astronomer at the Large Binocular Telescope Observatory.

The new images, taken with the large binocular telescope SHARK-VIS, are so detailed that they enabled the team to identify a major resurfacing event in which the plume deposits around a prominent volcano known as Pele, located near the equator in Io's southern hemisphere, have been covered by eruption deposits from a neighboring volcano, Piran Patera.

A similar series of eruptions was observed by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, which explored the Jovian system from 1995 to 2003.

“We interpret this change as dark lava deposits and white sulfur dioxide deposits from the Piran Patera eruption partially covering Pele's red sulfur-rich plume deposits,” said Dr. Ashley Davis, principal scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

“Before SHARK-VIS, it was impossible to observe these resurfacing events from Earth.”

“The visible light images are absolutely stunning,” said Imke de Patter, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

“Pele appears to be erupting continuously, spewing plumes of volcanic gases about 300 kilometers above Io's surface, high enough to have been photographed by Voyager, Galileo and Hubble.”

“Gases in the plume erupting from the lava lake freeze and are deposited on the surface as a conspicuous, wide, reddish, sulfur-rich ring.”

“Piran Patera, on the other hand, appears to erupt intermittently, leaving lava surrounded by a white ring of frozen sulfur dioxide.”

“The new images show that the white sediments obscure Pele's reddish sediments, but perhaps only for a short time.”

“Images of Io taken by NASA's Juno spacecraft in April 2024 will show a nearly perfect orange ring, with perhaps a faint hint of red where the Piran deposits were located.”

“It's like a race between Piram and Pele to see how much and how fast each can deposit.”

“Once Piran stops completely, it will be covered again with Pele's red deposits.”

of Investigation result It will be displayed in journal Geophysical Research Letters.

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Al Conrad othersIn 2024, LBT SHARK-VIS observes a large-scale re-emergence event on Io. arXiv: 2405.19604

Source: www.sci.news

Study: Io, Jupiter’s moon, has been erupting volcanically continuously since its formation

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Sulfur and chlorine isotopes in Io’s atmosphere indicate that Io has been volcanically active throughout the solar system’s 4.57 billion-year history.

This global map of Io was obtained in January 1999 by NASA’s Galileo spacecraft. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona.

Jupiter’s moon Io is the most volcanically active body in the solar system.

Io’s volcanic activity is the result of tidal heating due to friction that occurs within the moon’s interior as it is pulled between Jupiter and its neighboring moons Europa and Ganymede.

However, it is not fully understood how long this moon has hosted such extensive volcanic activity.

Due to the Moon’s current level of volcanic activity, Io’s surface is constantly being reworked, leaving only the most recent 1 million years of its geological record.

Stable isotope measurements of volatile elements in Io’s atmosphere could provide information about Io’s volcanic history.

“Io is a moon of Jupiter and is the most volcanically active body in the solar system,” says Dr. Ellie Hughes, a volcanic fluid geochemist at GNS Science.

“Io is in orbital resonance with Jupiter’s other two large moons, Europa and Ganymede.”

“For every time Ganymede orbits Jupiter once, Europa orbits twice and Io orbits four times.”

“This configuration causes Io’s orbit around Jupiter to be elliptical rather than circular, causing Jupiter’s gravity on Io to change periodically.”

“This change in gravity causes something called tidal heating on Io, just as the moon causes ocean tides on Earth, which causes volcanic activity.”

“However, it is unclear whether volcanic activity has occurred on Io over a long period of time or how this activity has changed over Io’s 4.57 billion year history.”

“Io has experienced so much volcanic activity that its surface is constantly being updated, leaving little trace of its past.”

“Fortunately, we can study Io back in time by studying sulfur and its isotopes.”

In the new study, Hughes, Caltech researcher Catherine de Clare, and colleagues used the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA) to observe gases in Io’s tenuous atmosphere. , we measured stable isotope radio waves of sulfur and chlorine. Carries molecules.

Scientists believe that both elements have lower concentrations of heavier isotopes compared to the solar system average due to the loss of lighter isotopes from the upper atmosphere as material is continually recycled between Io’s interior and atmosphere. I discovered that it is very plentiful.

The findings show that Io lost 94% to 99% of its sulfur through this outgassing and recycling process.

This would require that Io maintained its current level of volcanic activity throughout its lifetime.

“Sulfur is released into the atmosphere from Io’s interior by tidal heating from volcanic activity,” Hughes said.

“Some of the sulfur is lost to space by Jupiter’s magnetosphere, a bundle of charged particles swirling around Jupiter that continuously bombards Io’s atmosphere.”

“The sulfur that is left behind will eventually be buried back inside Io, ready to start the cycle again.”

“Isotopes of the same element have different weights from each other, so they can behave slightly differently during this cycle.”

“We found that the sulfur lost to space on Io is a little lighter isotopically than the sulfur that is recycled into Io’s interior.”

“Thus, over time, the sulfur left on Io becomes isotopically heavier and heavier. How heavy it gets depends on how long the volcanic activity has been occurring.”

“We found much more isotopically heavy sulfur in Io’s atmosphere than the solar system average. This requires that Io has lost almost all of its original sulfur.”

“Based on numerical modeling, this means that Io has been volcanically active for billions of years, and that tidal heating and orbital resonance have also occurred for most of Io’s history.”

“In the future, variability in atmospheric sulfur isotopic composition may help quantify Io’s average tidal heating rate.”

of study appear in the diary science.

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katherine de clair other. Isotopic evidence for long-lived volcanism on Io. science, published online on April 18, 2024. doi: 10.1126/science.adj0625

Source: www.sci.news

Io, one of Jupiter’s moons, has been a hotbed of volcanic activity for billions of years.

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Io, Jupiter’s innermost moon, is the most volcanically active object in the solar system.

Joshimer Binas/Alamy Stock Photo

Jupiter’s moon Io has been continually modified by volcanic eruptions over billions of years, probably since it first formed.

Io is the most volcanically active object in the solar system, with many volcanoes spewing plumes of sulfurous material that can be seen from Earth. Astronomers now know this is caused by so-called tidal heating, in which the gravity of Jupiter and its nearby moons deforms Io, but they wonder if it’s always been this way or if there was a more benign past. It was unclear whether it was there or not.

now, Catherine de Clear Caltech researchers have discovered that Io has probably been spewing lava for almost the entirety of its history. They did this by measuring the ratio of her two isotopes of sulfur in the atmosphere.

The most common stable form of sulfur contains 16 protons and 16 neutrons in each atom, but a heavier stable form called sulfur-34 has two extra neutrons. On Io, volcanoes continually spew both isotopes into the atmosphere and onto the ground. The top layer of the atmosphere, rich in lighter sulfur atoms, is lost to space as the moon moves around Jupiter, changing the ratio of these isotopes.

De Kleer and colleagues used observations from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a series of radio telescopes in Chile, to measure the proportions of Io’s atmosphere. Then, by modeling how much sulfur Io loses each year, the researchers were able to see at what point Io’s sulfur ratios are similar to the rest of the solar system. Although it is not possible to say exactly how long the volcano has been active, it appears that it has been erupting for between 2.5 billion and 4 billion years.

Because Io’s volcanic activity is due to tidal heating by Jupiter and other moons such as Europa and Ganymede, the results can also be used to infer the configuration of the Jupiter system billions of years ago. “The length of Io’s volcanic activity is a direct reflection of how long this orbital structure has existed,” de Clare says.

If Io has been consistently volcanically active for billions of years, this also means that its deep geological formations have been recycled many times, they say. Lionel Wilson At Lancaster University, UK.

Sampling the ejected material will provide a rare opportunity to learn about the chemical composition of Io’s deeper layers, such as the mantle beneath its outer shell. “If these volcanoes have continued to erupt essentially throughout the history of the solar system, even if we look at the composition of what’s erupting and find that it’s actually a snapshot of Io’s entire mantle, It’s safe,” Wilson said.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Discover the message NASA is sending to Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon.

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Illustration of NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft

NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology

In October, NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will begin a journey to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa (imagined above).

NASA has asked METI International, the scientific organization I lead, to leverage our expertise in trying to make contact with extraterrestrial intelligence by creating a symbolic engraved tantalum plate on a spacecraft. We asked them to help us create a message, a greeting from one water world to another.

We helped create two parts of the message. First, we collected a globally representative sample of recordings of water words in 103 languages. Each language is displayed as a waveform on the outside of the panel (pictured above) that protects sensitive scientific equipment.

On the other, inward-looking side (see below), we designed the scientific part of the message. This refers to water in terms of the “water hole,” a frequency band between the hydrogen and hydroxyl (combining to form water) emission lines in the radio spectrum where many of the early searches for intelligence beyond Earth took place. I’m explaining.

Other parts of the internal message include: Drake equation to estimate the number of extraterrestrial civilizations in the galaxy. Microchips containing the names of 2.6 million supporters will be added soon.and Poet Laureate of the United States Ada Limon’s Poem to Europa ends like this. “O second moon, we too / are made of water, of a vast, beckoning ocean… / of the need to call out in the darkness.” The European Clipper will fly to Jupiter in April 2030. We are planning to enter the orbit of

douglas vacochChairman of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry International

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Europa Clipper: NASA’s Mission to Jupiter’s Moons Explores Possibility of Extraterrestrial Life

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Artist’s impression of the European Clipper near its namesake moon

NASA

Instruments aboard a NASA spacecraft scheduled to launch to Europe later this year could directly detect cellular material ejected from Jupiter’s icy moons, increasing the chances of finding life.

Europa is of scientific interest because researchers believe there is a vast saltwater ocean beneath its thick icy shell. It is also surrounded by an orbiting blanket of ice grains and dust, believed to be the remains of material kicked up after the meteorite struck.

NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft was launched in October and is scheduled to arrive at its destination in 2030, flying close to the moon but not landing on it. Ten experiments will be carried out aimed at studying Europa’s internal structure, including its ocean chemistry and potential habitability for extraterrestrial life.

One of these is the SUrface Dust Analyzer (SUDA), a type of instrument known as a mass spectrometer. The mission will collect material ejected from the moon and reveal its chemical composition, including potential organic molecules and salts.

SUDA was not designed to look for signs of life in Europe, but now Frank Postberg and his colleagues at Germany’s Freie Universität Berlin, who are working on the device, have shown that it can detect fragments of cellular material, potentially providing evidence of modern life.

“If life on Europa follows the same principle of having membranes and DNA made from amino acids… [those chemicals] “It will be the deciding blow of my life,” he says.

“This is an interesting result because these ice grains hit the instruments in space at speeds of 4 to 6 kilometers per second,” say team members. Fabian Krenner at the University of Washington. “We showed that we can still identify cellular material.”

These extreme velocities cause particles to collide with SUDA with high kinetic energy, breaking large molecular structures into smaller component parts for analysis. To simulate this kinetic energy, the team shot water droplets with a laser. I put the following sample into water. Sphingopyxis alascensisa bacterium known to survive in frigid marine environments, making it a potential alternative to life on Europa.

When the laser hits the droplet, it breaks up into tiny droplets that hit the SUDA detector. The researchers discovered that they could distinguish between fragmented cellular material, including fatty acids and amino acids, which are abundant in cell membranes.

“We have now simulated the presence of cells inside a single ice grain without any pretreatment, which may be a valid case for what we see in Europe,” Klenner said. To tell. The next step, he says, is to repeat the experiment using different types of cell cultures.

Murti Gudipati He works on SUDA at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., but is not involved in the research. The results should reflect what could happen to the spacecraft, he said. Watch while on duty.

But the ability to clearly distinguish cellular material from other organic molecules and salts depends on the specific composition of the ice grains released from Europa, he says. If SUDA detects many other complex organic molecules and salts mixed in with the ice grains, it may be difficult for researchers to reliably detect cellular material, Gudipati says.

the current, NASA says When asked, “Europa Clipper is not a life-detecting mission. Its primary science goal is to determine whether there is a place beneath Europa’s surface where life could exist.” new scientist The agency was unable to respond prior to publication about whether the new research changes the mission’s goals.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Stunning Images of Jupiter’s Moon Io Captured by NASA’s Juno Orbiter

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On February 3, 2024, NASA's Juno spacecraft made its second close approach to Io, the fifth and third largest of Jupiter's moons. Like the previous flyby on December 30, 2023, this second pass was approximately 1,500 kilometers (930 miles) away. During the twins' flyby, the spacecraft's JunoCam instrument returned stunning high-resolution images and raw data. The flyby is designed to provide new insights into how Io's volcanic engines work and whether a global magma ocean exists beneath the volcanic moon's rocky, mountainous surface. has been done.

The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft imaged Io, the most geologically active object in the solar system, on February 3, 2024, from a distance of approximately 7,904 km (4,911 miles) . Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS.

Io is the innermost of Jupiter's four Galilean moons and the fourth largest moon in the solar system.

Its diameter is about 3,630 km (2,556 miles), making it only slightly larger than our moon.

It is the only place in the solar system other than Earth that is known to have volcanoes spewing hot lava like those on Earth.

Io has over 400 active volcanoes, which are caused by tidal heating. This is the result of a gravitational tug of war between Jupiter's gravity and the small but precisely timed gravitational pulls from Europa and Ganymede.

The moon's yellow, white, orange, and red colors are produced by sulfur dioxide, frost on its surface, elemental sulfur, and various sulfur allotropes.

The volcano was first discovered on the island of Io in 1979, and since then studies using NASA's Galileo spacecraft and ground-based telescopes have shown that eruptions and lava fountains occur constantly, forming rivers and lakes of lava. Masu.

Only 13 large eruptions were observed between 1978 and 2006, in part because fewer astronomers were scanning the moon on a regular basis.

The JunoCam instrument aboard NASA's Juno spacecraft imaged Io on December 30, 2023, from a distance of approximately 5,857 km (3,639 miles). Image credit: NASA/SwRI/MSSS.

NASA's Juno spacecraft has been monitoring Io's volcanic activity from distances ranging from about 11,000 km (6,830 miles) to more than 100,000 km (62,100 miles), providing the first view of the moon's north and south poles .

On December 30, 2023, Juno came within approximately 1,500 km of Io's surface. The orbiter made her second close flyby of the Moon on February 3, 2024.

The second flyby mainly flew over Io's southern hemisphere, but previous flybys flew over Io's northern hemisphere.

Juno captured two plumes rising above Io's horizon on February 3, 2024. These plumes were emitted from two vents from one giant volcano, or from two volcanoes located close to each other. The JunoCam instrument photographed the plume from a distance of approximately 3,800 km (2,400 miles). Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / SwRI / MSSS / Andrea Luck.

“We investigate the source of Io's massive volcanic activity, whether there is a magma ocean beneath its crust, and the importance of tidal forces from Jupiter that are relentlessly squeezing this beleaguered moon. doing.”

“There are active plumes, high mountain peaks with distinct shadows, and evidence of lava lakes, some of which look like islands.”

Starting in April 2024, Juno will conduct a series of occultation experiments that will use Juno's gravity science experiments to investigate the composition of Jupiter's upper atmosphere. This provides important information about the planet's shape and internal structure.

Source: www.sci.news

Juno spacecraft captures incredibly detailed image of Jupiter’s moon Io

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This image of Io was taken by the Juno spacecraft.

NASA/SwRI/MSSS

Thanks to NASA's Juno spacecraft, which passed the moon on December 30, we had the closest look at Jupiter's volcanic moon Io in decades.

Juno, which has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016, has increasingly taken images of Io's vicinity in recent months as its orbit around Jupiter changes.

This latest image was taken just 1500 kilometers above the moon's surface. In it, you can see some of Io's hundreds of towering mountains, some of which can exceed 10 kilometers in height, and their long, sharp shadows.

Io is thought to be the most volcanically active body in the solar system, with hundreds of active volcanoes. These volcanoes tend to be smaller than the largest mountains, averaging only 1 to 2 kilometers in height, and are difficult to see in images.

But by comparing the data with images from Juno's previous 56 lunar passes, astronomers are starting to understand how these volcanoes have changed over time and why they are so active. You can know.

Juno has also been exploring Jupiter's other moons, including Europa and Ganymede, collecting data and taking the closest images. NASA's Galileo spacecraft In February, Juno will again fly very close, about 1,500 kilometers above Io's surface.

Juno will fly close to Io seven more times before leaving orbit for Jupiter at the end of 2025, but that won't be the end of learning about Jupiter's moons. NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft, scheduled to launch in October this year, is designed to fly just 25 kilometers above the surface of Europa, considered one of the most promising sites for life on Earth. This will provide important information about the mysterious inland sea. Solar system. The spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Europa in 2030.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Possibly the First Crater Found on Jupiter’s Moon Io

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This could be the first impact crater discovered on Io

NASA/JPL-California Institute of Technology/Kevin M. Gill, CC BY 2.0

Amateur astronomers may have discovered the first crater ever discovered on Jupiter’s moon Io. Io has never seen an impact crater before because it is very volcanically active and eruptions tend to erase impact craters.

Swedish amateur astronomer Jesper Sandberg discovered the apparent crater while examining archival images from the Galileo spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003. It is relatively small, only about 100 meters in diameter, and is located on a large, flat area.

Source: www.newscientist.com