Cyclone observed in Jupiter's northern hemisphere by JunoCam in July 2018 (IMAGE)

CNRS

Cyclone observed in Jupiter's northern hemisphere by JunoCam in July 2018

Caption

The central part covers an area of 3200 x 3800 km. White clouds of ammonia can be seen, rotating anticlockwise. Clouds rising as much as 15 km above the others (based on the shadow they cast) are visible in several places, especially in the upper central part of the cyclone. These storms are thought to contain a kind of water-ammonia hail ('mushballs') specific to Jupiter's atmosphere, which drags the ammonia down into the deep atmosphere and may explain the presence of shallow lightning flashes.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/Kevin M. Gill

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