Jupiter's Colorful Clouds
Explanation:
What makes
the colors in Jupiter's clouds? With a mean temperature of
120 degrees Kelvin (-153 degrees Celsius)
and a composition dominated by
Hydrogen (about 90%), and
Helium
(about 10%) with a smattering
of hydrogen compounds like methane and ammonia, astronomers have
been hard pressed to explain the blue, orange and brown cloud bands and
the salmon colored "red" spot.
Trouble is -- at the cool
cloud temperatures
Jupiter's atmospheric constituents should be colorless!
Some suggest that more colorful hydrogen compounds well up from
warmer regions in the atmosphere, tinting the cloud tops.
Alternatively, compounds of trace elements like sulfur may color the clouds.
The colors do indicate the clouds' altitudes, blue is lowest through
red as highest.
The dark colored
bands are called belts and the light colored ones zones.
In addition to the belts and zones, the Voyager missions revealed
the presence of intricate vortices visible, for example,
in this 1979
image from the Voyager I flyby.
Centuries of visual observations
of Jupiter have revealed that the colors of its clouds are ever changing.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
