The largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter, has once again intrigued scientists. Indeed, the latter observed mysterious “dark oval” shapes, each approximately the size of the Earth and located in the polar regions of the star. Good news, initial conclusions have just been shared on this subject.
What could these dark shapes be on Jupiter?
Before getting to the heart of the matter, it is important to point out that the shapes spotted were already identified at the end of the 1990s thanks to observations by the Hubble telescope. However, the origin of these had not yet been elucidated.
A recent paper from a group of scientists supported by NASA, published in the journal Nature Astronomyfinally gave some explanations for this phenomenon.
According to them, and thanks to recent images captured in the ultraviolet spectrum thanks to Hubble and as part of NASA's Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project, this phenomenon would be caused by disturbances in Jupiter's upper atmosphere.
They also add that these could be “magnetic tornadoes”, which would stir up the stratospheric mist and thus cause these unusual dark spots at the North and South poles of the planet.
A gas planet full of tornadoes?
For researchers, the deepest point of these vortices in the planet's ionosphere would have the force to stir up Jupiter's hazy atmosphere, and even send it upward like a tornado. This could thus cause the observed dark oval formations, which form over about a month before dissipating.
Xi Zhang, co-author and professor of planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, shares that “the haze in the dark ovals is 50 times thicker than the typical concentration […]suggesting that it likely forms due to the dynamics of swirling vortices rather than chemical reactions triggered by high-energy particles from the upper atmosphere.
Towards reflections around the Earth's atmospheres?
There is still a lot of work to be done to discover how Jupiter functions, and more precisely, the atmospheric dynamics. Xi Zhang also emphasizes that these discoveries could ultimately give us “new ways of thinking about our atmospheres on Earth”.
“For example, one of the big uncertainties in predicting climate change is understanding how aerosols – tiny particles in the atmosphere – form and behave […] Jupiter offers a completely different perspective, where magnetic fields and atmospheric layers interact in a way that we don't know here,” he adds to detail his thinking.
