JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Solar System
.

Herschel Links Water Around Jupiter to Comet Impact

April 23, 2013
This map shows the distribution of water in the stratosphere of Jupiter as measured with the Herschel space observatory. White and cyan indicate highest concentration of water, and blue indicates lesser amounts. The map has been superimposed over an image of Jupiter taken at visible wavelengths with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.› Full image and caption
Credit: Water map: ESA/Herschel/T. Cavalié et al.; Jupiter image: NASA/ESA/Reta Beebe (New Mexico State University)
This is a composite photo, assembled from separate images of Jupiter and comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, as imaged by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in 1994.› Full image and caption
Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver and E. Smith (STScI) and J. Trauger and R. Evans (NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Astronomers trace water in Jupiter's intermediate atmospheric layer back to the famous Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet impact of 19 years ago.

Astronomers have finally found direct proof that almost all water present in Jupiter's stratosphere, an intermediate atmospheric layer, was delivered by comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which famously struck the planet in 1994.

The findings, based on new data from the Herschel space observatory, reveal more water in Jupiter's southern hemisphere, where the impacts occurred, than in the north. Herschel is a European Space Agency mission with important NASA participation.

The origin of water in the upper atmospheres of the solar system's giant planets has been debated for almost two decades. Astronomers were quite surprised at the discovery of water in the stratospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, which dates to observations performed with ESA's Infrared Space Observatory in 1997.

While the source of water in the lower layers of their atmospheres can be explained as internal, the presence of this molecule in their upper atmospheric layers is puzzling due to the scarcity of oxygen there. Its supply must have an external origin. Since then, astronomers have investigated several possible candidates that may have delivered water to these planets, from icy rings and satellites to interplanetary dust particles and cometary impacts.

Data from Herschel's Photodetecting Array Camera and Spectrometer (PACS), with the help of NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility, helped solve the mystery at Jupiter by showing an asymmetry in the distribution of water in its stratosphere, caused by the comet impact. Additional proof for a cometary source for the water came from Hershel's heterodyne instrument for the far infrared (HIFI), which probed the vertical profile of water in the stratosphere. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., helped build the HIFI instrument.

"The asymmetry between the two hemispheres suggests that water was delivered during a single event and rules out icy rings or moons as candidate sources," says Thibault Cavalié from the Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux, France, who led the study. "Local sources would provide a steady supply of water, which over time would lead to a hemispherically symmetric distribution in the stratosphere. Depending on whether the chemical species are transported in neutral or ionized form, local sources of water would result in higher concentrations either at the poles or along the equator, but not in a north-south asymmetry."

Read the full ESA news release at: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Herschel/Herschel_links_Jupiter_s_water_to_comet_impact .

Herschel is a European Space Agency mission, with science instruments provided by consortia of European institutes and with important participation by NASA. NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at JPL. JPL contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the United States astronomical community. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

More information is online at http://www.herschel.caltech.edu , http://www.nasa.gov/herschel and http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Herschel .

News Media Contact

Whitney Clavin

Caltech

626-395-1944

wclavin@caltech.edu

2013-145

Related News

Technology .

First of NASA’s SunRISE SmallSats Rolls Off Production Line

Mars .

10 Years Since Landing, NASA’s Curiosity Mars Rover Still Has Drive

Stars and Galaxies .

Webb Captures Stellar Gymnastics in the Cartwheel Galaxy

Mars .

NASA Will Inspire World When It Returns Mars Samples to Earth in 2033

Mars .

NASA Marks 25 Years Since Pathfinder Touched Down on Mars

Mars .

NASA, ESA to Discuss Mars Sample Return Mission

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Reveals Webb Telescope’s First Images of Unseen Universe

Mars .

NASA’s Perseverance Scouts Mars Sample Return Campaign Landing Sites

Stars and Galaxies .

President Biden Reveals First Image From NASA’s Webb Telescope

Stars and Galaxies .

NASA Shares List of Cosmic Targets for Webb Telescope’s First Images

Explore More

Event Aug. 18, 2022 .

Voyager – 45 Years in Space

Video .

What's Up - August 2022

Image .

NASA's Juno Mission Spies Vortices Near Jupiter's North Pole

Mission .

SPHEREx

Mission .

SunRISE

Video .

What's Up - July 2022

Image .

Radar Observations of Near-Earth Asteroid 7335 1989 JA

Event June 30, 2022 .

JPL & the Space Age: The Pathfinders

Mission .

ASTHROS

Image .

Rains of Terror

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors
Careers
Internships
The JPL Story
JPL Achievements
Documentary Series
Annual Reports
Missions
Current
Past
Future
All
News
All
Earth
Solar System
Stars and Galaxies
Subscribe to JPL News
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Apps
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Robotics at JPL
Events
Lecture Series
Team Competitions
Speakers Bureau
Calendar
Visit
Public Tours
Virtual Tour
Topics
JPL Life
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Exoplanets
Stars and Galaxies
Robotics
More
Asteroid Watch
NASA's Eyes Visualizations
Universe - Internal Newsletter
Social Media
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Managers: Veronica McGregor, Randal Jackson
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Naomi Hartono
CL#: 21-0018