Jupiter's Ammonia-Fueled "Mushballs"

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mushball hailstorms

ScienceDaily

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Science

On Jupiter, it's mushballs all the way down

Summary

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77% Informative

On Jupiter , it's mushballs all the way down, scientists say.

Scientists found evidence for a complicated but apparently real process associated with fierce lightning storms.

Strong updrafts generate slushy , ice-coated hailstones of ammonia and water that eventually plunge into the planet and deplete areas of ammonia .

Jupiter 's atmosphere is mostly hydrogen and helium gas with trace amounts of gaseous molecules, like ammonia and water.

While ammonia gas and water vapor rise, freeze into droplets, like snow, and rain down continually, there is no solid surface to hit.

For decades , the assumption of a well-mixed atmosphere guided inferences about the interior makeup of gas giant planets.

Scientists around the world observe Jupiter regularly with ground-based telescopes, timed to coincide with Juno 's closest approach to the planet every six weeks .

They used data from both the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Array in New Mexico to complement Juno observations.

The 3D picture of that one swath of Jupiter confirmed that most of the weather is happening in the upper 10 kilometers .

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