Mysterious glowing objects found in Jupiter's great red spot

Astronomers have identified strange, glowing objects high in Jupiter's atmosphere. They are located over an area known as the Great Red Spot and remain a mystery to scientists—they are not entirely certain what they have discovered.

According to the Science Alert portal, the mysterious planet is more enigmatic than we thought.

"We thought this region, perhaps naively, would be really boring," said Henrik Melin from the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom.

In practice, however, Jupiter has surprised scientists.

"It is in fact just as interesting as the northern lights, if not more so. Jupiter never ceases to surprise," added Melin.

Astronomers decided to take a closer look at one of the most intriguing places on Jupiter – where the most giant storm in the Solar System is occurring, roughly the size of the entire Earth. We don’t know of a similar phenomenon on our planet, making the Great Red Spot a primary focus for scientists, particularly concerning its longevity.

The advent of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) made a more detailed examination of the Great Red Spot possible. The telescope observes the world in the near and mid-infrared at high resolution. This allows for a thorough study of the layer of Jupiter that still requires precise investigation: the ionosphere.

From observations of Jupiter and the Great Red Spot, it turns out that in the ionosphere of this planet, ultraviolet solar radiation ionizes hydrogen gas. As a result, positively charged ions, specifically trihydrogen cations (H3+), are formed. Most importantly, these ions subsequently cause an infrared glow.

Since Jupiter receives only 4 percent of the solar radiation that reaches Earth, scientists concluded that the glow must be evenly distributed. Consequently, they decided to look closer at the distribution of H3+ cations in the lower ionosphere. The research results surprised scientists, as it turned out that while sunlight is the dominant mechanism responsible for the ionization of hydrogen, something else in the gas causes the strange shapes visible through the JWST.

Scientists do not rule out the possibility that this may result from overlapping layers of Jupiter's atmosphere, causing interaction in a complex and unknown manner. However, to be certain about what exactly is happening in the gas giant's atmosphere, additional observations and analyses are needed. Astronomers emphasize that it is worth the effort, as science has previously overlooked an essential aspect of Jupiter's weather based on the assumption that there was nothing to see there—which was a mistake.

"Jupiter's low-latitude ionosphere has long been considered quite bland, especially when contrasted to the dynamic auroral zones. The observations presented here show that this is far from true, and there is a richness in features that have never been seen before," explain the scientists.