The interplay between forming stars and their planetary disks can have profound effects on how planets form. We observe young stars blasting their inner solar systems with light; so much light that it can push material outwards and dry up the inner solar system. Just how far things get dried out is still being sorted, but we do see where all the water went – and that place is the outer solar system.

What we observe is a difference of composition, with the Sun having far fewer atoms capable of combining to form water than we see of actual water in the atmosphere of worlds like Jupiter. In new data coming to us from the Juno mission, observations of Jupiter’s equatorial region show the atmosphere is roughly 0.25% water, which is 3 times what we see in the composition of the Sun. This data comes from looking at Jupiter in microwave colored light, which is readily absorbed by water.

Using Juno’s Microwave Radiometer, scientists can study Jupiter’s water content at a variety of atmospheric depths to get at these water-rich results. These results don’t necessarily reflect the composition of the entire world, and future orbits will allow these same kinds of observations to be made of Jupiter’s polar regions, which have a different temperature structure and observationally don’t have the same puffy white water clouds we see in the equatorial regions. Over time, Juno is going to allow us to build a  detailed map of Jupiter’s atmosphere, but for now, it’s cool to just know there be water in them there clouds.

More Information

• Findings From NASA’s Juno Update Jupiter Water Mystery (NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI)

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