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> Jupiter's cloud tops at night - Illustration

Jupiter's cloud tops at night - Illustration

author: Walter B. Myers/Novapix

reference: a-jup99-00016

Image Size 300 DPI: 25 * 17 cm

This vantage point is from the same altitude as Jupiter's highest clouds where the atmospheric pressure is just a few millibars, about the same as that on the surface of Mars. High in the starry sky can be seen two of Jupiter's largest satellites--volcanic Io and icy Europa. The scanty ether here gives little clue to the gargantuan pressures and tornado-force winds below. A giant lightning bolt passes between cloud layers driven by a 300 mph gale. Beneath the clouds lies a turbulent realm of molecular hydrogen and helium. Go deeper yet and this atmosphere eventually gives way to a deep, planet-wide ocean of liquid hydrogen.

Keywords for this photo:

ASTRONOMY - ATMOSPHERE - CLOUD - EUROPA - ILLUSTRATION - IO - JOVIAN MOON - JUPITER - LIGHTNING - ORION - PLANET - THUNDERSTORM -