Jupiter dwarfs all the other
planets in our solar system. More than one hundred planets the size of Earth
could easily fit within Jupiter, below the cloud tops of the planet. The
atmosphere of Jupiter holds a hurricane-like storm bigger than Earth that has
been raging for hundreds of years.
Lightning strikes in the giant planet’s
atmosphere break methane into elemental carbon and oxygen. The carbon falls
down into Jupiter’s atmosphere. Deep in the atmosphere, where pressure reaches thousands
of times that at Earth’s surface, the carbon is squeezed into graphite, the
material of pencil lead. Deeper still, the graphite is compressed into
diamonds, which, unfortunately, melt as fall even deeper into Jupiter’s
crushing atmosphere.
All this atmospheric turmoil
creates colorful cloud patterns at the top of Jupiter’s atmosphere, perhaps the
most colorful place in our solar system outside of a kindergarten art class.
Who hasn’t gazed into the daytime sky and imagine shapes on the clouds? While
you might imagine dragons or dogs, it’s not always easy to convince others of
the same shape.
Jupiter’s atmosphere recently
spawned an unmistakable cloud shape. Images of Jupiter reveal a Jovian dolphin
swimming through the cloud bands on Jupiter. One might even imagine Flipper
doing a tail-stand in the roiling Jupiter cloud sea.
For a series of images of the
dolphin cavorting in Jupiter’s clouds, go to https://www.space.com/42672-dolphin-shaped-cloud-jupiter-juno-images.html.
On the first Tuesday of each month, I write an astronomy-related column
piece for the Oklahoman newspaper. On the following day, I post that same
column to my blog page.
This is reprinted by permission from the Oklahoman and www.newsok.com.
