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Related: About this forumIs Jupiter A Water World? NASA Finds 'Abundance' As New Images Show Giant Planet As A 'Blue Marble'
Jamie Carter Contributor
Long thought to be virtually dry, it turns out that Jupiter has significant water.
New data from NASAs Juno spacecraft, which launched in 2011 and is orbiting the planet right now, suggests that water makes up about 0.25% of the molecules in Jupiters atmosphere. Thats about three times more than thought to be at the Sun.
Just when we think we have things figured out, Jupiter reminds us how much we still have to learn, said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio.
Since Jupiter was probably the first planet to form in the solar system it contains most of the gas and dust in it that isnt now part of the Sun. As such, how much water is locked-up in Jupiter is essential for astronomers trying to understand how the solar system formed.
More:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2020/02/25/is-jupiter-a-water-world-nasa-finds-abundance-as-new-images-show-giant-planet-as-a-blue-marble/#6f1b60236bf9
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Is Jupiter A Water World? NASA Finds 'Abundance' As New Images Show Giant Planet As A 'Blue Marble' (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Feb 2020
OP
Silver Gaia
(4,545 posts)1. Wow.
I am so intrigued!
denem
(11,045 posts)2. Jupiter is a really ugly planet.
I have always thought so, but the high resolution photos are ... yeek.
I think this is beautiful.
AZ8theist
(5,477 posts)8. Agreed. It is a fascinating place....
Dem2theMax
(9,651 posts)10. Me too!
It's stunning.
trotsky
(49,533 posts)4. Seems reasonable.
Lots of water in comets, and Jupiter has been known to absorb more than a few of those.
packman
(16,296 posts)5. Wait - WHAT???
"Thats about three times more than thought to be at the Sun" Are they saying the sun, that big , hot ball of fusion, has WATER molecules in it?
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)6. Apparently, but only briefly...
The strong magnetic fields affect pushes most of the sun's gas aside, creating a slightly less hot space in the middle of the spot. There, things are just cool enough for the remaining atoms, including oxygen and hydrogen, to momentarily bond.
This doesn't mean that there are liquid oceans on the sun, of course. It's still too hot for that. In fact, it's still so hot that if you could throw a hunk of iron into the center of a sunspot, it would immediately vaporize.
So, no one water molecule lasts for very long. Sunspots do contain trace amounts of H2O in vapor form, and that's still water on the sun!
https://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/water-on-the-sun.php
packman
(16,296 posts)7. Thanks for the explain - Too much to comprehend on an early morning
Karadeniz
(22,541 posts)9. More interesting info, as usual...thanks for keeping us in the loop!❤
lark
(23,123 posts)11. Awesome, it so so much more beautiful than any decipiction has shown previously.
I have never seen Jupiter depicted with any blue at all, this is fascinating. Thanks for sharing.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)12. Pretty!!
joho260
(17 posts)13. Danger!
It's all in the form of Ice Nine; don't bring any crystals back to Earth.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)14. You could still melt that with a fire and it turned back to normal water.
This would be about ICE 9000