NASA scientists peering deep inside Jupiter's Great Red Spot -- a storm that has been raging on the planet for over 350 years -- have detected signs of water above the planet's deepest clouds.
The pressure of the water combined with their measurements of another oxygen-bearing gas, carbon monoxide, imply that Jupiter has two to nine times more oxygen than the Sun, researchers said.
The findings, published in the Astronomical Journal, support theoretical and computer-simulation models that have predicted abundant water on Jupiter.
The revelation was stirring given that the team's experiment could have easily failed. The Great Red Spot is full of dense clouds, which makes it hard for electromagnetic energy to escape and teach astronomers anything about the chemistry within.
The data collected will supplement the information NASA's Juno spacecraft is gathering as it circles the planet from north to south once every 53 days.
Among other things, Juno is looking for water with its own infrared spectrometer and with a microwave radiometer that can probe deeper than anyone has seen -- to 100 bars, or 100 times the atmospheric pressure at Earth's surface.
If Juno returns similar water findings, it could open a new window into solving the water problem.
Juno is the latest spacecraft tasked with finding water, likely in gas form, on this giant gaseous planet.
Jupiter is thought to be the first planet to have formed by siphoning the elements left over from the formation of the Sun as our star coalesced from an amorphous nebula into the fiery ball of gases we see today.
Read the full report of NASA : Jupiter's Great Red Spot
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