images

Jupiter's cloud tops at night - Illustration

by

Walter B. Myers/Novapix

Reference

a-jup99-00016

Date

2009-02-10

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.