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Giant planets are large planets, typically 10 or more times the mass of Earth, made predominantly of liquid or gas, notably hydrogen and helium. There are four giants in the solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
Radiometric cooling ages of chondrite meteorites record asteroid belt bombardment beginning approximately 11 million years after the formation of the Solar System, indicating an episode of giant planet migration at that time.
Jovian cusps are not well-known due to limited observations. Here, the authors show that the characteristics of charged particles in the Jovian cusps are similar to those of the Earth and Saturn cusps, and Jupiter’s polar cusp is located in the dusk-side sector, contradicting Earth-based predictions of a near-noon location.
The spectroscopic and photometric observations of a high-mass, transiting warm Jupiter, TIC 241249530 b, with an orbital eccentricity of 0.94, provide evidence that hot Jupiters may have formed by means of a high-eccentricity tidal-migration pathway.
It’s known that Saturn’s largest moon Titan has liquids on its surface. Here, the authors show bistatic investigation of Titan’s three polar lakes, which allows direct estimates of effective relative dielectric constant and small-scale roughness.
JWST has revealed unexpected and complex emissions structures in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, above the Great Red Spot. These features suggest that different atmospheric layers are strongly coupled by gravity waves.
Global energy budgets of planets are important to understand their climate system. Here, the authors show long-term multi-instrument observations from Cassini spacecraft, which reveals dynamical imbalances of Saturn’s global energy budget.
Measurements of Jupiter’s gravity by the Juno mission have established that the winds extend 3,500 kilometres below the surface. Cylindrically oriented zonal flows provide the best match in a new model using gravity harmonics up to degree 40.
JWST observations of Jupiter reveal a narrow and intense atmospheric jet at the equator of the planet, close to its tropopause. The jet is manifest in the fast motions of equatorial hazes and is most likely a deep counterpart of the equatorial oscillations observed in Jupiter’s stratosphere.
