Mysterious glowing objects found above Jupiter's Great Red Spot

Close-up of Jupiter's surface with the visible Great Red Spot - illustrative photo

Astronomers have identified strange, glowing objects high in Jupiter's atmosphere. They are located above an area known as the Great Red Spot and are a mystery to scientists—they are not entirely sure what they have discovered.

The mysterious planet is much more enigmatic than we thought, reports the discovery on Jupiter on the Science Alert portal. "We thought this region, perhaps naively, would be boring," suspected Henrik Melin from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

However, in practice, it turned out that Jupiter surprised scientists. "In reality, it is just as interesting as the aurora [on Jupiter], if not more. Jupiter never ceases to amaze," added Melin.

The biggest storm on Jupiter

Astronomers decided to take a closer look at one of the most intriguing places on Jupiter—an area where the largest storm in the Solar System is occurring, about the size of the entire Earth. We don’t know of a similar phenomenon on our planet, so scientists would like to learn more about the Great Red Spot, primarily its longevity.

According to the text, the advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made a more detailed examination of the Great Red Spot possible. The telescope observes the universe in near and mid-infrared and in high resolution. Thanks to this, it is possible to delve into the layer of Jupiter that still requires precise study: the ionosphere.

From observations of Jupiter and the Great Red Spot, it turns out that in the ionosphere of this planet, ultraviolet solar radiation ionizes hydrogen gas. As a result, positively charged ions – trihydrogen cations H3+ – are formed. Most importantly, these ions subsequently cause an infrared glow.

Given that Jupiter receives only 4 per cent of the solar radiation reaching Earth, scientists concluded that the glow must be evenly distributed, the text states. As a result, they decided to take a closer look at the distribution of H3+ cations in the lower ionosphere. The research results surprised scientists, as it turned out that while the dominant mechanism responsible for the ionization of hydrogen is sunlight, there is another factor in the gas causing the strange shapes visible through the JWST.

Structures visible in hydrogen in Jupiter's atmosphere

Scientists do not rule out that this may result from the overlapping layers of Jupiter's atmosphere interacting in a complex and unknown way. However, to be sure what exactly is happening in the giant planet's atmosphere, additional observations and analyses are needed. Astronomers emphasise that it is worth it, as so far, science has neglected an important aspect of Jupiter's weather based on the assumption that there was nothing to see there – which was a mistake.

"Jupiter's ionosphere at low latitudes has long been considered rather bland. However, observations show that this is far from the truth, and it holds a wealth of features never seen before," explains the scientists.

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