NASA's Juno orbiter found that Jupiter's colored bands extend thousands of kilometers below the surface, but why do they stop where they do? A new study has put forward an explanation, describing a complex magnetic field that essentially stops these globe-circling jet streams in their tracks.
Continue Reading
Europa is regarded as one of the most likely places in the solar system to find life, but where to look for evidence of it? To aid future space missions, a team has drawn up comprehensive maps of the radiation bombarding the moon to determine where explorers must look to find signs of life.
Continue Reading
With dozens of moons whizzing around Jupiter, it makes sense that a few have slipped under the radar, but the latest discovery is still a surprisingly large haul. Astronomers have announced the detection of 12 new moons orbiting Jupiter, including one particularly reckless “oddball.”
Continue Reading
For decades, scientists have been puzzled about the giant lightning storms in Jupiter's atmosphere, but new data from NASA's Juno orbiter indicates that Jovian lightning has more in common with the terrestrial variety than previously thought.
Continue Reading
NASA's Juno orbiter mission to Jupiter has been thrown a lifeline after the approval of a 41-month extension. The unmanned spacecraft will have additional time to complete its primary science observations, with the extra time required due to the spacecraft taking longer than planned orbits.
Continue Reading
An international team of astronomers has discovered an asteroid sharing Jupiter's orbit, that appears to have originated from another solar system. The imaginatively named asteroid 2015 BZ509 could have immigrated to our system at a time when our Sun was still embedded in a colossal star cluster.
Continue Reading
According to a new study, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot (GRS) is growing taller as the storm’s perimeter continues to shrink. The GRS is a colossal swirling storm that has been raging continuously on Jupiter’s cloud surface since its discovery in 1831.
Continue Reading
Having completed 10 close passes as near as 2,200 miles (3,500 kilometers) above the cloud tops of Jupiter, NASA's Juno orbiter has found evidence that the famous cloud bands extend deep into the atmosphere, as well as clues to the nature of the planet's core.
Continue Reading
The Great Red Spot, a storm bigger than Earth, has been raging on Jupiter for centuries. We’ve known its 2D size for a long time, but after a close flyover in July, Juno has finally revealed how deep into the atmosphere the storm’s roots run.
Continue Reading
On October 24 Juno successfully completed its eighth science flyby out of a planned twelve before the scheduled mission end in July next year. Now we are seeing some of the most mind-blowing and spectacular images of the giant planet so far.
Continue Reading
See the stories that matter in your inbox every morning