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NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has made a remarkable discovery in Jupiter’s atmosphere, revealing a previously unseen high-speed jet stream. This jet stream, measuring an impressive 3,000 miles in width and traveling at speeds over 300 miles per hour, hovers above Jupiter’s equator beyond its main cloud layers. The discovery of this enormous jet stream provides valuable insights into how the turbulent atmosphere of Jupiter interacts with its different layers and showcases the unique capabilities of the Webb telescope in tracking such features.

The study’s lead author, Ricardo Hueso from the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain, expressed his surprise at the finding, stating, “What we have always seen as blurred hazes in Jupiter’s atmosphere now appear as crisp features that we can track along with the planet’s fast rotation.”

The discovery was made using data captured by Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) as part of the Early Release Science program. Webb’s ability to look deeper into the near-infrared spectrum allowed researchers to observe the higher-altitude layers of Jupiter’s atmosphere, approximately 15 to 30 miles above its cloud tops. This range revealed previously unresolved details, transforming blurry high-altitude hazes into clear features.

Comparisons between Webb’s observations and those of the Hubble Space Telescope provided further insights. By analyzing winds observed at different altitudes, researchers were able to calculate wind shears, or the rate of change in wind speed with altitude. The complementary observations from Hubble, taken just one day after Webb’s observations, played a crucial role in establishing the baseline state of Jupiter’s equatorial atmosphere and monitoring the development of convective storms unrelated to the discovered jet.

The newfound jet stream travels at astonishing speeds of around 320 miles per hour and resides in Jupiter’s lower stratosphere, approximately 25 miles above the clouds. Its velocity is twice that of sustained winds in a Category 5 hurricane on Earth.

The research team is eager to conduct further observations with Webb to track any changes in the jet’s speed and altitude over time. They aim to determine its long-term behavior and whether it is connected to the oscillating stratospheric pattern in Jupiter’s equatorial region. The team suspects that the jet may vary considerably over the next 2 to 4 years based on this pattern.

The study, shedding light on the intricate dynamics of Jupiter’s atmosphere, has been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Sources:
– Nature Astronomy journal

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