Scientists solved the mystery of changing the color of the stripes on Jupiter
NEW YORK, BRONX (ORDO News) — The planet Jupiter looks beautiful and colorful due to the bands of different colors and atmospheric vortices that are visible in its atmosphere. For a long time, scientists could not solve the secret of changing colors, but a new study finally provides an answer.
The study of an international group of scientists, published in the journal Nature Astronomy, is dedicated to the study of Jupiter and, in particular, the strange color change of its bands visible in the upper layers of the atmosphere.
According to scientists, all these stripes and vortices are created due to complex processes in the atmosphere of the planet, which can also lead to a change in the color of the stripes. These changes in the atmosphere occur at a depth of about 50 km and are probably related to the action of Jupiter’s magnetic field.
“If you look at Jupiter through a telescope, you will see bands that go around the equator along the lines of latitude. There are dark and light belts, and if you look closely, you can see clouds drifting around, carried by extremely strong easterly and westerly winds,” Professor Chris Jones from the University of Leeds said in a statement.
The scientist further notes that near the equator, the wind blows to the east, but if you slightly change the latitude either to the north or to the south, the wind starts blowing to the west. But even further to the north or south, the winds again blow in an easterly direction. This alternation of easterly and westerly winds is very different from Earth‘s weather, the study says. Every 4 or 5 years, everything changes, including the color of the bands that surround Jupiter.
However, several years of research have revealed that Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field, which is approximately 20 thousand times stronger than Earth’s. Therefore, most likely, the reason for the change in color of the bands on Jupiter may be atmospheric waves fed by the planet’s magnetic field.
Scientists do not know exactly how magnetic field fluctuations cause infrared changes in Jupiter’s atmosphere, which indicates the existence of extremely complex processes in the planet’s atmosphere.
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News agencies contributed to this report, edited and published by ORDO News editors.
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