Scientists Intrigued by Large Dark Shapes Appearing on Surface of Jupiter

Something's up.

Magnetic Tornadoes

Researchers have observed mysterious "dark ovals," each roughly the size of the Earth, appearing on the polar regions of Jupiter on the ultraviolet spectrum.

The gas giant, whose Great Red Spot has already puzzled astronomers for centuries, has an extremely powerful magnetic field which scientists say could be behind the odd phenomenon.

As detailed in a new paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy, a NASA-supported group of scientists concluded that disturbances high in the planet's atmosphere may cause these dark spots to appear in ultraviolet observations.

While the ovals were first spotted in Hubble observations in the late 1990s, the team says it may have found the reason for why they appear: they suggest that "magnetic tornadoes" in the upper atmosphere could be stirring up stratospheric haze, causing these unusual features to form near both Jupiter's north and south poles.

Jupiter Haze

These ovals appear dark in UV observations taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, as part of the Outer Planet Atmospheres Legacy (OPAL) project, because they absorb more ultraviolet light than their surroundings.

The phenomenon may not be limited to the upper reaches of the gas giant's atmosphere. The ovals' existence suggests there are strong forces at work deep into the planet's atmosphere, the researchers posit.

"In the first two months, we realized these OPAL images were like a gold mine, in some sense, and I very quickly was able to construct this analysis pipeline and send all the images through to see what we get," said undergraduate UC Berkeley student and coauthor Troy Tsubota in a statement.

Tsubota and his collaborators suggest that the deepest point of these vortices within the planet's ionosphere may be stirring up Jupiter's hazy atmosphere and sending it upwards much like a tornado, causing these ovals to form over roughly a month before dissipating.

"The haze in the dark ovals is 50 times thicker than the typical concentration," said coauthor and UC Santa Cruz planetary science professor Xi Zhang in the statement, "which suggests it likely forms due to swirling vortex dynamics rather than chemical reactions triggered by high-energy particles from the upper atmosphere."

The team hopes to shed more light on how atmospheric dynamics differ between the Earth and Jupiter.

"Studying connections between different atmospheric layers is very important for all planets, whether it’s an exoplanet, Jupiter or Earth," senior author and UC Berkeley associate research astronomer Michael Wong added.

"To me, discoveries like this are significant and interesting not only because it’s something new in the cosmos, but also because they give us fresh ways to think about our atmospheres on Earth," Zhang argued in a separate statement.

"For instance, one of the big uncertainties in predicting climate change is understanding how aerosols — tiny particles in the atmosphere — form and behave," Zhang added. "Jupiter offers a completely different perspective, where magnetic fields and atmospheric layers interact in ways we don’t experience here."

More on Jupiter: James Webb Observes Mysterious Structures Above Jupiter's Great Red Spot