The NASA Juno spacecraft is the creator of some of the most beautiful images of Jupiter in recent years. Recently, the space agency established a citizen science project that allows the public to assist in identifying the atmospheric features of the giant gas planet.
The project, named Jovian Vortex Hunter, is led by researchers at the University of Minnesota and NASA, aiming to classify the different types of clouds on Jupiter. The researchers are interested in determining the fluid dynamics that lead to the formation of vortices and chaotic structures on this planet and in analyzing images captured by the Juno mission.
Jupiter is the largest gas giant in the Solar System
Jupiter mainly consists of material in gaseous and liquid states. It is the largest gas giant in the Solar System, with a diameter of 142,984 km at the equator. Its average density is 1.326 g/cm³, making it the densest among the four gas giants.
Dr. Ramanakumar Sankar, a physicist and astronomer who leads the Jovian Vortex Hunter project, stated: “There are many images that our small team will take years to examine all of them.”
“We need help from the public to identify which images contain vortices, where they are located, and how they appear. With a catalog of features (especially vortices), we can study the physics behind how these features form and how they relate to the structure of the atmosphere, particularly beneath the clouds, where we cannot directly observe them.”
NASA needs public assistance to identify images with vortices on Jupiter.
The Juno satellite has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 as part of its mission to explore the planet. It is a spacecraft measuring the length of a basketball court and is currently one of the key tools, alongside the James Webb Space Telescope, providing NASA with detailed insights into Jupiter for research purposes.
The researchers hope to answer three main questions: What are the differences in diversity between cyclonic and anticyclonic features, what different cloud structures can exist, and how do the brown masses (long cyclones with dark brown color) differ from other cyclonic features?
On Jupiter, most clouds are composed of non-water chemicals.
“The atmosphere of Jupiter is very similar to our atmosphere: there are clouds of various shapes and sizes“, the Jovian Vortex Hunter researchers explain: “On Jupiter, most clouds are made from non-water chemicals, and can be several thousand kilometers in size.”
“Some clouds are also formed from powerful storms that reach heights of over 50 km or even hundreds of kilometers. Understanding how these clouds form is crucial to grasping Jupiter’s atmosphere and the processes that create the magnificent features we see.”
Jovian refers to the type of clouds that the team is mainly interested in studying.
“Different clouds on Jupiter form under varying atmospheric conditions (for example, storms, vortices), similar to how we obtain different types of clouds in a calm or stormy atmosphere. The types of clouds on Jupiter also depend significantly on the chemicals that form them. Jupiter has three main cloud layers: ammonia clouds, which are primarily visible because they form at the top, followed by a layer of ammonium hydrosulfide, and deep within the atmosphere (about 150 km below the ammonia clouds), there may be thick water clouds.”
“To comprehend how these different clouds form, we need to examine the diversity of cloud features in the atmosphere. In this project, we will create that catalog and group the various cloud features together from JunoCam images.”
The Jovian Vortex Hunter is classified as a citizen science project, a collaboration between scientists and interested members of the public.
Jupiter is the largest and heaviest planet in the Solar System. Its average radius is 69,911± 6 km, nearly 10.97 times that of Earth. Jupiter’s mass is 1.8986 x 10²⁷ kg, equivalent to 317.8 times that of Earth. Despite this, as a gas giant, it has a lighter material density of approximately 1.326 g/cm³. Moreover, as a colossal gas mass, Jupiter does not have a solid surface. If someone were to stand on it, they would simply sink and pass through to the planet’s solid core. As a result, the gravitational force on Jupiter (defined at the top of the gas clouds) is about 24.79 m/s², equivalent to 2.528 g. |
