Starship Asterisk*

Complex Jupiter

Explanation: How complex is Jupiter? NASA's Juno mission to Jupiter is finding the Jovian giant to be more complicated than expected. Jupiter's magnetic field has been discovered to be much different from our Earth's simple dipole field, showing several poles embedded in a complicated network more convoluted in the north than the south. Further, Juno's radio measurements show that Jupiter's atmosphere shows structure well below the upper cloud deck -- even hundreds of kilometers deep. Jupiter's newfound complexity is evident also in southern clouds, as shown in the featured image. There, planet-circling zones and belts that dominate near the equator decay into a complex miasma of continent-sized storm swirls. Juno continues in its looping elliptical orbit, swooping near the huge planet every 53 days and exploring a slightly different sector each time around.

<< Previous APOD

This Day in APOD

Next APOD >>

Jupiter really does seem to change color at its poles, from white and reddish at its equator and temperate latitudes, to greenish and bluish at its poles.

Any ideas why that is so?

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:51 am
Jupiter really does seem to change color at its poles,
from white and reddish at its equator and temperate latitudes,
to greenish and bluish at its poles. Any ideas why that is so?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmosphere_of_Jupiter wrote:

---

.
<<The visible surface of Jupiter is divided into several bands parallel to the equator. The alternating pattern of belts and zones continues until the polar regions at approximately 50 degrees latitude, where their visible appearance becomes somewhat muted. The basic belt-zone structure probably extends well towards the poles, reaching at least to 80° North or South.>>

I can't help but think this is the sun, just a 'few' thousand degrees cooler.
IS this what stars look like as they compress and before the thermonuclear reactions start?

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:51 am Jupiter really does seem to change color at its poles, from white and reddish at its equator and temperate latitudes, to greenish and bluish at its poles.

Any ideas why that is so?

Could it have something to do with the way light travels thru Jupiter's atmosphere?

The nascent stars were detected when they began to emit thermonuclear radiations, before that no (Hubble Telescope)

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:51 am Jupiter really does seem to change color at its poles, from white and reddish at its equator and temperate latitudes, to greenish and bluish at its poles.

Any ideas why that is so?

Great question, Ann. I think it is an area of research, rather than something that has been answered yet. Wikipedia's Jupiter article (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jupiter) has this point, when discussing Oval BA:

Why Oval BA turned red is not understood. According to a 2008 study by Dr. Santiago Pérez-Hoyos of the University of the Basque Country, the most likely mechanism is "an upward and inward diffusion of either a colored compound or a coating vapor that may interact later with high energy solar photons at the upper levels of Oval BA."[102] Some believe that small storms (and their corresponding white spots) on Jupiter turn red when the winds become powerful enough to draw certain gases from deeper within the atmosphere which change color when those gases are exposed to sunlight.[71][72][73]

[71] "Jupiter's New Red Spot". 2006. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008. Retrieved March 9, 2006.
[72] Steigerwald, Bill (October 14, 2006). "Jupiter's Little Red Spot Growing Stronger". NASA. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
[73] Goudarzi, Sara (May 4, 2006). "New storm on Jupiter hints at climate changes". USA Today. Retrieved February 2, 2007.
(Reference 73 no longer works.)

sillyworm2 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 2:11 pm

Ann wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 6:51 am
Jupiter really does seem to change color at its poles, from white and reddish
at its equator and temperate latitudes, to greenish and bluish at its poles.

Any ideas why that is so?

Could it have something to do with the way light travels thru Jupiter's atmosphere?

Limb darkening should occur equally around Jupiter's limb of solar illumination rather than only at the poles.

drss123 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:56 pm I can't help but think this is the sun, just a 'few' thousand degrees cooler.

Not quite. Jupiter is one tenth the diameter of the Sun and about one thousandths less massive. You'd need 999 other Jupiters the same mass to get a second star like the Sun. However red dwarfs are also stars and you'd need just another 79 Jupiters of the same mass to make a red dwarf star in the Solar System.

Should make a Paisley Shirt print out of that..."Shaggadelic BABY!!!!"...

My Jupiter which I darkened a bit for details...

:---[===] *

One heck of a boat wake ....

De58te wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:57 pm

drss123 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:56 pm I can't help but think this is the sun, just a 'few' thousand degrees cooler.

Not quite. Jupiter is one tenth the diameter of the Sun and about one thousandths less massive. You'd need 999 other Jupiters the same mass to get a second star like the Sun. However red dwarfs are also stars and you'd need just another 79 Jupiters of the same mass to make a red dwarf star in the Solar System.

But at only 13 jupiter masses fussion of dueterium begins and we'd have a Brown Dwarf in our system.

Bruce

BDanielMayfield wrote: ↑Wed Jun 06, 2018 1:31 pm

De58te wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:57 pm

drss123 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:56 pm I can't help but think this is the sun, just a 'few' thousand degrees cooler.

Not quite. Jupiter is one tenth the diameter of the Sun and about one thousandths less massive. You'd need 999 other Jupiters the same mass to get a second star like the Sun. However red dwarfs are also stars and you'd need just another 79 Jupiters of the same mass to make a red dwarf star in the Solar System.

But at only 13 jupiter masses fussion of dueterium begins and we'd have a Brown Dwarf in our system.

Bruce

Don't know about you, but I'd say we don't need a more massive Jupiter than the one we already have.

Ann

De58te wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 8:57 pm

drss123 wrote: ↑Tue Jun 05, 2018 1:56 pm I can't help but think this is the sun, just a 'few' thousand degrees cooler.

Not quite. Jupiter is one tenth the diameter of the Sun and about one thousandths less massive. You'd need 999 other Jupiters the same mass to get a second star like the Sun. However red dwarfs are also stars and you'd need just another 79 Jupiters of the same mass to make a red dwarf star in the Solar System.

But, then, how do you explain the Cooper Mini? It's a BMW but only half the mass...