New results from NASA's Juno mission at Jupiter suggest our solar system's largest planet is home to what's called "shallow lightning." which produce slushy ammonia-rich hailstones called Mush Balls. This stunning animation takes you into Jupiter’s exotic high-altitude electrical storms. New observations of Jupiter from NASA's Juno spacecraft could drastically change our understanding of the gas giant. Juno's close flybys of the cloud tops allowed us to see something surprising. This massive gas gaint is home to a phenomenon known as “shallow lightning”. This is an unexpected form of electrical discharge that originates from clouds that contain an ammonia-water solution. Whereas lightning on Earth originates from water clouds
Besides lightning, the planet is also home to slushy ammonia-rich hailstones dubbed as "mushballs". Scientists theorize that mushballs snach ammonia and water from the upper atmosphere and carry them into the depths of Jupiter's atmosphere. These findings are critical in solving the mystery of Jupiter's missing ammonia. It turns out that ammonia is just transported lower in its atmosphere
Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI/MSSS/Gerald Eichstädt/Heidi N. Becker/Kevin M. Gill Music: Vangelis Animation: Koji Kuramura
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