Collaborative efforts between amateur and professional astronomers have led to a significant discovery about Jupiter's atmospheric composition, challenging long-standing beliefs. Contrary to the conventional view that Jupiter's colorful clouds are made of ammonia ice, new research suggests they consist of ammonium hydrosulfide mixed with photochemical smog. These findings, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, stem from amateur astronomer Dr. Steven Hill's innovative approach to mapping Jupiter's atmosphere using commercially available telescopes and specially colored filters.
Dr. Hill's initial results demonstrated that not only could amateur astronomers map the ammonia abundance in Jupiter's atmosphere, but they also showed that Jupiter's clouds are located too deep within its warm atmosphere to be composed of ammonia ice. This breakthrough inspired Professor Patrick Irwin from the University of Oxford to apply Dr. Hill's method using the Multi Unit Spectroscopic Explorer (MUSE) at the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. Through spectroscopy, which identifies atmospheric gases by their unique fingerprints in visible light, Irwin's team confirmed that Jupiter's primary clouds are situated in a region of higher pressure and temperature, ruling out ammonia ice as their composition.
Previous analyses had suggested similar findings, but these complex methods were challenging to verify. Dr. Hill's simpler technique of comparing brightness in adjacent filters produced identical results, making verification easier and more accessible. As a result, the team concluded that the clouds of Jupiter are at deeper pressures than expected and cannot be composed of pure ammonia ice.
The simplicity and efficacy of this method have opened new avenues for amateur astronomers to contribute to planetary science. Professor Irwin expressed astonishment that such a straightforward approach could reveal so much about Jupiter's atmosphere. Dr. Hill, motivated by a desire to maximize the potential of modest equipment, was surprised by the project's success. The technique offers cheaper and faster ammonia mapping that could enable citizen scientists to track atmospheric variations on Jupiter, linking visible weather changes to ammonia variations, which could be vital in understanding Jupiter's weather.
The research also explored why ammonia doesn't form a thick cloud, attributing it to active photochemistry in Jupiter's atmosphere. As moist, ammonia-rich air is lifted, ammonia either degrades or mixes with photochemical products faster than it can condense into ice, suggesting the clouds are composed of ammonium hydrosulfide mixed with smoggy products. Occasionally, fast updrafts can form small ammonia ice clouds, observed by spacecraft like NASA's Galileo and Juno.
In extending this method to Saturn, similar results were observed, indicating that the main reflective layer is below the expected ammonia condensation level, hinting at comparable photochemical processes occurring there. This new understanding of Jupiter and Saturn's atmospheres illustrates the impact of merging amateur curiosity with professional research capabilities, expanding our knowledge of the gas giants.
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