We’re humans, so we tend to think -- not surprisingly -- about Earth first.
“The Earth is the most important planet for us, undoubtedly, but Jupiter is really the most important planet in the solar system,” said Gregory Laughlin, a professor of astronomy at Yale University. “Jupiter’s formation was very responsible for sculpting the formation of all the other planets.”
Earlier this week, NASA announced its Juno spacecraft entered orbit around Jupiter. It's on a mission to learn more about our solar system’s largest planet, whose history is bound up in fascinating ways with our own.
Laughlin said understanding the massive gas giant – best known for its bright cloud bands and Great Red Spot – will help us learn more about how the Earth and solar system formed, and whether planets like our own are common elsewhere.
To do this, Juno will study Jupiter’s gravity field, which Laughlin said will give clues about the planet’s theorized core structure.
The mission will also use microwaves to peer down beneath Jupiter’s outer layer of clouds – to places like a region about 70 kilometers (43 miles) deep, where the temperature is about what you’d find on a chilly spring day in Connecticut.
“The atmosphere would not be breathable, but the pressure wouldn’t kill you instantly,” Laughlin said. “And it’s raining like crazy at that level. It’s raining water. Jupiter has a layer of water clouds and thunderstorms below the clouds that we see when we look at pictures of Jupiter.”
Understanding that, Laughlin said, will give insight into weather patterns back here on Earth, and the amount of water Jupiter carries.
It also might tell scientists things about how and where the planet formed – information that could potentially change what we think we know about solar system formation.
If you’re looking for new high-quality pictures of Jupiter, those will be coming soon, too – but you’ll need a little patience. Engineers still need to tweak Juno’s orbit to do all their work – and say official science collection isn’t expected to begin until October.
