BrainStuff Classics: Could Jupiter Have Water After All?

Astronomers have long suspected that Jupiter contains lots of water, but they've never been able to prove it. Learn about the new research that could help -- and thus solve lots of questions about our solar system -- in this classic episode of BrainStuff, based on this article: https://science.howstuffworks.com/great-red-spot-may-expose-jupiters-watery-secret.htm

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio.
Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here with a classic podcast episode.
This one is about the question of whether there's water
on Jupiter and the history of trying to figure that out.
Since this episode aired, NASA and its partners have started
receiving data back from the James Web Space Telescope, including

(00:25):
some observations of Jupiter that may give us a more
definitive answer than ever. But while that data is being processed,
here's what we know for now, Hey brain Stuff, Lauren
Vogebom Here. Many mysteries hide beneath Jupiter's beautifully chaotic clouds,
But with the help of some clever astronomical techniques and
NASA's Juno spacecraft, one of the giant planet's biggest puzzles

(00:49):
may be closer than ever to being solved. As we know,
water is the key to life on Earth. Our efforts
therefore to seek out life on other worlds hinges on
the detection of this import compound. Though scientists don't think
that life inhabits Jupiter, finding a Jovian reservoir is one
of the most pressing issues in planetary science. Locating this

(01:09):
water would help us understand how the Solar System and
Jupiter itself evolved. Unfortunately, Jupiter has been notoriously unhelpful at
revealing any water deep in its thick atmosphere, leaving scientists
and their models of planetary formation high and dry. Before
we sent spacecraft to investigate Jupiter, scientists assumed the gas
giant would contain copious amounts of H two O. The

(01:32):
logic was simple. Earth is covered in the wet stuff,
and there's lots of water in the various moons that
orbit the giant planets. Therefore, Jupiter, the most massive and
most gravitationally dominant planet in the Solar System, must have
trapped the lion's share of our Solar System's water as
it formed billions of years ago. That logic was shattered
in when NASA's Galileo mission dropped a probe into the

(01:55):
planet's atmosphere to measure its composition. Much to everyone's surprise,
there was a punishing lack of water. But the Galileo
probe may not have detected water simply because it wasn't
dropped in the right place. It could be as if
the probe parachuted over a desert on Earth. It's not
that there's no water on Earth. It's just the deserts
aren't known for being awash with the stuff. Jupiter's atmosphere

(02:16):
is dynamic with jet stream storms in a non homogeneous composition.
The probe could only sample the atmosphere it was traveling
through in that one location, and that location might have
been as dry as a desert. The situation changed, however,
when researchers used the powerful W. M. Keck Observatory and
NASA Infrared Telescope facility on Hawaii's Mona Kea to stare

(02:37):
deep into Jupiter's biggest storm, the Great Red Spot. They
released their water filled news in an August study published
in the Astrophistical Journal and led by Gordon L. Bulaker
of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Br Aker said in
a NASA statement, the moons that orbit Jupiter are mostly
water ice, so the whole neighborhood has plenty of water.

(02:58):
Why wouldn't the planet, which is this huge gravity well
where everything falls into it, be water rich too. To investigate,
Bureaker's team measured the infrared radiation leaking from deep beneath
the clouds. Specifically, they studied the infrared absorption spectrum of
a certain type of methane, which is known to exist
in a vapor throughout the planet. This infrared radiation should

(03:19):
leak through the clouds unimpeded, but should any water vapor
clouds be present, this radiation would be blocked. During analysis
of observations from Jupiter's Great Red Spot, the researchers found
three distinct cloud layers were blocking this infrared signal from
passing through the atmosphere, thus agreeing with the theoretical predictions
for the presence of water rich clouds. They also detected

(03:41):
large quantities of carbon monoxide, suggesting that there's lots of
oxygen available in Jupiter's atmosphere to chemically bond with molecular
hydrogen to form water if the temperature and pressure is
just right. The next step will be to use these
data to complement the Juno spacecraft's observations of Jupiter. JUNO
can make spectroscopic observations even deeper into Jupiter's atmosphere, and

(04:04):
it will do so for the entire planet, not just
the Great Red Spot. But should JUNO also detect this
possible water cloud layer. The techniques developed by Buelreaker's team
using telescopes on Earth will have been proven effective at
finding water deep inside Jupiter, thereby solving the gas giants
watery mystery, and these techniques could then be used to
probe deep into the atmospheres of other planets like Saturn, Uranus,

(04:25):
or Neptune without having to send a probe into them.
NASA named the Juno Mission, by the way, after the
Roman goddess Juno, who was married to Jupiter and had
the handy ability to see through clouds. Today's episode is
based on the article the Great Red Spot may expose
Jupiter's watery secret on how stuff works dot com, written

(04:48):
by Ian O'Neill. Brain Stuff is production of I heart
Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com and
is produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts my heart Radio,
visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
you listen to your favorite shows.