Jupiter's Juno spacecraft might have solved ammonia mystery on Uranus & Neptune

Uranus and Neptune are among the farthest celestial objects from Earth, however, the distance hasn’t been able to keep researchers from peeping into the mysteries they hide. New reports suggest that the lack of ammonia on these two planets may have been decoded, credit of which is being given to our solar system’s biggest planet, Jupiter. 

A report by SlashGear revealed that a scientist named Tristan Guillot stated that the mushballs might have caused the absence of ammonia from the atmosphere of Uranus and Neptune. Mushballs are a mixture of ammonia and water that take the form of a hailstone. As per Guillot, the mushballs might be the answer to why infrared and radio wavelength observations are unable to detect ammonia in these two planets as compared to other gas giants. The scientist suggested that it is the mushballs that push atmospheric ammonia deep into the clouds of the planets making them undetectable. Saturn and Uranus have been found to be extremely rich in other elements like hydrogen, helium and methane. As a result, the invisibility of ammonia in their atmosphere has fairly baffled the scientists. 

Role of Jupiter in the revelation

Jupiter also had a fair share in solving the ammonia mystery as Guillot used data from similar happenings on this planet to narrow down the possibilities. The scientist reportedly examined the observations by Juno spacecraft, one that is currently orbiting Jupiter, and revealed that levels of ammonia beneath the planet’s atmosphere are significantly higher than what is detected above it. This duality was accredited to mushballs and postulated as a similar reason for the findings on the final two planets. 

Jupiter battered with space rock

Recently, Brazilian observer Jose Luis Pereira captured a space rock diving into the clouds of the massive planet that widely circulated on social media. Jupiter has been vulnerable to collisions for a long time because of its extreme closeness to the asteroid belt. The asteroid belt is the region that starts after the fourth planet Mars. Besides, Jupiter also invites such collisions as its massively strong gravity attracts the asteroids into itself.

(Image: @LM_STEVE/Twitter)