As NASA’s Juno mission have recently completed its fifth flyby to Jupiter, scientists are totally surprised about the results that they have received. The spacecraft’s JunoCam fascinating information beyond their imagination about the fifth planet in the solar system.
According to CNN, Juno principal investigator Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute stated that what the Juno craft showed them isn’t what they had expected from the cloudy planet. The results showed a whole lot of the complex and brand-new side of Jupiter compared to their expectation that the planet is boring and uniform inside.
With that said, the Juno probe showed Jupiter’s gigantic cyclones spanning 870 miles. Beneath the clouds of the planet, Juno successfully captured varying shifts of ammonia wells that trigger violent weather systems as well. Scientists were then left scratching their heads as they question how the cyclones and configurations on the planet were formed. Juno also revealed that Jupiter’s magnetic field is 10 times stronger than the strongest magnetic field on Earth.
“But now that we are here we are finding that Jupiter can throw the heat, as well as knuckleballs and sliders. There is so much going on here that we didn’t expect that we have had to take a step back and begin to rethink of this as a whole new Jupiter,” Bolton said in a statement last press release in San Antonio as Space reported.
Aside from Juno’s revelations about Jupiter’s weather systems, strong magnetic fields north and south poles, the planet’s rings were also unveiled by the spacecraft. It was discussed by NASA officials that Jupiter’s rings are much smaller and fainter compared to that of the renowned Saturn rings.
Rest assured, the results from the Juno mission to Jupiter was published in two journals by NASA publishers and researchers. The first was shown in the journal Science while 44 papers of the study were featured in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.
Nonetheless, more surprises are expected to be brought by the Juno probe as it completes orbits every 53 days. The probe was also said to flyby from the north pole of the gas giant planet throughout its south pole in about two hours. The next flyby of the Juno craft is revealed to happen on July 11 as it passes over the Great Red Spot.
