NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft, the agency\u2019s flagship mission to Jupiter, continues to stream back an incredible amount of scientific data about the largest planet in our solar system just over four years after arriving in orbit.<\/p>\n
Some of the most recent discoveries pertain to lightning in Jupiter\u2019s upper atmosphere, called \u201cshallow lightning,\u201d as well as indications of ammonia laden hail, which has helped scientists explain the ammonia loss in Jupiter\u2019s upper atmosphere that has puzzled them for some time.<\/p>\n
NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft began its journey to the giant of our solar system in August 2011, launching aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fl.<\/p>\n
After a five-year journey, the craft entered orbit of Jupiter on 5 July 2016 (UTC) for a multi-year mission to peer into Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere and provide global scientific coverage of the planet.<\/p>\n
Lightning in Jupiter\u2019s atmosphere was first observed during the two Voyager flyby missions in 1979, at which point it was believed the lightning was triggered in a similar manner as on Earth, occurring only in storms where water is present in all three of its phases. <\/p>\n
Subsequent observations by other flyby crafts and NASA\u2019s in-situ Galileo probe did not return any findings that would alter this theory. All spacecraft observations of lightning at Jupiter until Juno saw bright spots in Jupiter\u2019s clouds, suggesting an origination point deep within water clouds about 45 to 65 kilometers below the visible cloud surface. <\/p>\n
But Juno is, in part, changing our understanding of how Jovian lightning can be triggered and how it illuminates a process unfolding in Jupiter\u2019s upper atmosphere that has held scientists\u2019 curiosity for years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n