Scientists Study Proves The Existence Of Water And Amonia In Hail On Jupiter

JAKARTA Jupiter has a number of similarities to Earth, but there are some things that are difficult to explain. One of them is the uneven distribution of ammonia on the planet.

Various studies continue to be carried out to find out how these chemical elements are scattered on Jupiter. In a recent study, a group of scientists finally drew conclusions about this phenomenon, namely the occurrence of hail consisting of ammonia and water.

Chris Moeckel, Planetary Scientist from the University of California, said that this hail fell consistently like wet snow. The ice sheet is large, but soft. Moeckel initially did not believe the results of his research, but there was no mistake in it.

"So much has to be put together to really explain this, it seems very exotic. Basically I spent three years trying to prove that this is wrong. And I can't prove it wrong," said Moeckel.

Based on the results of the study, the hail contained ammonia was affected by a major storm on Jupiter. The storm spewed water above the clouds and met with ammonia vapor melting ice. After that, water and ammonia freeze together in cold temperatures.

"In these new conditions, droplets of infalling ammonia-water can collide with rising water ice crystals and flow through clouds with electricity. This is a big surprise, as ammonia-water clouds do not exist on Earth," explained another planetary researcher.

To find loopholes or errors from his research results, Moeckel and a number of his colleagues researched data from NASA's Juno and Hubble Space Telescope. They took data in July 2017 when the two flew over Jupiter's thunderstorms.

Juno recorded six different radio frequencies using microwave radiometer instruments, while Hubble observed ultraviolet, optical, and near-infrared wavelengths.

From the large amount of data collected, Juno radio data proves that this ice sheet did fall to Jupiter's surface. "There is a small point below the clouds that looks like cooling, namely melting ice, or increasing ammonia, which is melting and releasing ammonia," Moeckel said.