SwRI scientists help identify the first stratospheric winds measured on Jupiter

San Antonio TX (SPX) Mar 19, 2021

Working with a team led by French astronomers, Southwest Research Institute scientists helped identify incredibly powerful winds in Jupiter's middle atmosphere for the first time. The team measured molecules exhumed by the 1994 impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 to trace winds in excess of 900 miles per hour near Jupiter's poles. Jupiter's distinctive red and white bands of swirling clouds a