Cyclone clusters rage over Jupiter's poles

Jupiter's poles are blanketed by geometric clusters of cyclones with winds exceeding 360km/h, according to observations by NASA's Juno spacecraft.

A cyclonic pattern observed over Jupiter.

Geometric clusters of powerful cyclones rage at Jupiter's poles, NASA observations show. (AAP)

Jupiter's poles are blanketed by geometric clusters of cyclones and its atmosphere is deeper than scientists suspected.

These are just some of the discoveries reported by four international research teams on Wednesday, based on observations by NASA's Juno spacecraft circling Jupiter.

One group uncovered a constellation of nine cyclones over Jupiter's north pole and six over the south pole.

The wind speeds exceed category-five hurricane strength in places, reaching 350km/h.

The massive storms have not changed position much or merged since observations began.

Team leader Alberto Adriani of Italy's National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome was surprised to find such complex structures.

Scientists thought they would find something similar to the six-sided cloud system spinning over Saturn's north pole.

Instead, they found an octagon-shaped grouping over the north pole, with eight cyclones surrounding one in the middle, and a pentagon-shaped batch over the south pole.

Each cyclone measures several thousand kilometres across.

The fifth planet from our sun, gas giant Jupiter is by far the largest planet in our solar system.

Launched in 2011, Juno has been orbiting Jupiter since 2016 and peering beneath the thick ammonia clouds.

It's only the second spacecraft to circle the planet; Galileo did it from 1995 to 2003.

Another of the studies in this week's journal Nature finds that Jupiter's crisscrossing east-west jet streams actually penetrate thousands of kilometres beneath the visible cloud tops.


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Source: AAP


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Cyclone clusters rage over Jupiter's poles | SBS News