About the cover

To coincide with the flyby of the Pluto-bound New Horizons probe, Jupiter was the target of intensive observation, starting in February 2007, from a battery of ground-based telescopes and the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Weeks into the project, on 25 March, an intense disturbance developed in Jupiter's strongest jet at 23° North latitude, lasting to June 2007. This type of event is rare the last ones were seen in 1990 and 1975. The onset of the disturbance was captured by the HST, and the development of two plumes was followed in unprecedented detail. The two plumes (bright white spots in the small infrared image on the cover) towered 30 km above the surrounding clouds. The nature of the power source for the jets that dominate the atmospheres of Jupiter and Saturn is a controversial matter, complicated by the interplay of local and planet-wide meteorological factors. The new observations are consistent with a wind extending deep into the atmosphere, well below the level reached by solar radiation. In the larger cover image, turbulence caused by the plumes can be seen in the band that is home to the jet.
