Scientists surprised by new Webb data of the upper layers of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
Click for original image.
The uncertainty of science: Using the Webb Space Telescope, scientists have obtained infrared data of the upper layers of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, revealing that it is far more complicated that predicted by researchers.
The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the underlying atmosphere. Here, the bright and vibrant displays of northern and southern lights can be seen, which are fuelled by the volcanic material ejected from Jupiter’s moon Io. However, closer to the equator, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is influenced by incoming sunlight. Because Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight that is received on Earth, astronomers predicted this region to be homogeneous in nature.
The Great Red Spot of Jupiter was observed by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in July 2022, using the instrument’s Integral Field Unit capabilities. The team’s Early Release Science observations sought to investigate if this region was in fact dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was targeted for Webb’s observations. The team was surprised to discover that the upper atmosphere hosts a variety of intricate structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view.
You can read the published research paper here. The image to the right is figure 4 from that paper, with each panel showing different infrared wavelengths indicated by the different colors, and thus the complex structures and physical properties.
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Click for original image.
The uncertainty of science: Using the Webb Space Telescope, scientists have obtained infrared data of the upper layers of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, revealing that it is far more complicated that predicted by researchers.
The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the underlying atmosphere. Here, the bright and vibrant displays of northern and southern lights can be seen, which are fuelled by the volcanic material ejected from Jupiter’s moon Io. However, closer to the equator, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is influenced by incoming sunlight. Because Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight that is received on Earth, astronomers predicted this region to be homogeneous in nature.
The Great Red Spot of Jupiter was observed by Webb’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) in July 2022, using the instrument’s Integral Field Unit capabilities. The team’s Early Release Science observations sought to investigate if this region was in fact dull, and the region above the iconic Great Red Spot was targeted for Webb’s observations. The team was surprised to discover that the upper atmosphere hosts a variety of intricate structures, including dark arcs and bright spots, across the entire field of view.
You can read the published research paper here. The image to the right is figure 4 from that paper, with each panel showing different infrared wavelengths indicated by the different colors, and thus the complex structures and physical properties.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Looking at the illustration, The eye of the hurricane has less density, but is warmer than the surrounding material (at the usual infamous 19.5 latitude). (ideal gas law‘s indicate lower air pressure will have lower temperature. (actual near -400° F) An anomaly not explained in the article blaming “gravitational waves” which are assumed but can’t be proven… more likely the upwelling of hotter gases from far below measured at 800° F mentioned in the same article but not linked, preferring solar auroral heating)
As Zimmerman quoted above;
“However, closer to the equator, the structure of the planet’s upper atmosphere is influenced by incoming sunlight. Because Jupiter receives only 4% of the sunlight that is received on Earth, astronomers predicted this region to be homogeneous in nature”
But it’s not.
4% of the sunlight is similar to the amount of light we receive from the “full moon?” at midnight. I think the sun would be the unlikely source of much heating.
To me the article is mostly gobbledygook.
The things we do know about are not considered in their evaluations … For instance,
“The upper atmosphere of Jupiter is the interface between the planet’s magnetic field and the underlying atmosphere.”
The magnetic field is mentioned, without pointing out that this is the “second South magnetic pole” of Jupiter which is ”highly concentrated” in an area only three times larger than earth, unlike the more broad southern magnetic pole. electrical currents will flow around this highly magnetic phenomenon causing the red storm to swirl faster, but also attracting “positive” charged elements in the atmosphere making the spot a different substance/color. The combination the intense hurricane and magnetic field causes a upwelling from deep in the atmosphere pulled up into the “low density vortex” the size of our planet.
(keep in mind, the deeper interior is almost 4 times hotter than the surface of the sun causing a layer of ”plasma”… The atmosphere is the source of Jupiters magnetic field)
I can’t understate the influence of this strong magnetic field, it is thought to be the reason, from magnetic induction every nine hours, that Io has so many active volcanoes even though it is tidal locked.
Instead of stating the obvious, The authors prefer to empathize gravitational waves over and over and over again, trying to convince the reader that this is the mechanism for the anomalies. Even though the article admits it’s impossible to prove.
From “Ligo gravity detector” site; (concerning colliding black holes)
“While the processes that generate measurable gravitational waves are extremely violent, by the time the waves reach Earth they are thousands of billions of times smaller (due to the ‘stiffness’ of space), and much smaller when they reach us, much as sounds are weaker when you move further from the source. In fact, by the time gravitational waves from LIGO’s first detection reached us, the amount of space-time wobbling they generated was a 10,000 times smaller than the nucleus of an atom! LIGO was designed to make such inconceivable, exquisitely small measurements”
(of course that’s assuming the atom is not vibrating)(or the equivalent of the width of a human hair difference as measured between us and alpha Centauri lasting a maximum of a fraction of a second)(also assuming the black holes have normal time, that the event horizon does not exist, otherwise collisions in “our time” would take thousands to millions of years)
Perhaps I’m overthinking it, I have a difficult time believing/having faith in stuff that should be proven through the “scientific method” which eliminates all my doubt. I’ve been lied to so much, that I’m skeptical about everything.
It doesn’t help when I hear that 11,000 peer reviewed papers have been retracted, a $30 billion industry.
https://kleanindustries.com/resources/market-analysis-research/trust-the-science-that-just-retracted-11-000-peer-reviewed-papers/