June 26, 2024

On the left the planet Jupiter seen by the James Webb Space Telescope's Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument and on the right the Great Red Spot observed by the Near-InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec) instrument

An article published in the journal “Nature Astronomy” reports the identification of structures in the planet Jupiter’s upper atmosphere above the Great Red Spot, the iconic storm larger than the Earth. A team of researchers led by Henrik Melin of the British University of Leicester used observations conducted with the James Webb Space Telescope to obtain new details of that area. The surprise came from the identification of intricate structures including dark arcs and bright spots in the observed area.