Using Webb, scientists have discovered elusive chemical compounds, each on a different Jovian moon, including one that's a common disinfectant.
For the Ganymede survey, the team used Webb’s near-infrared spectrometer to see how light was absorbed by hydrogen peroxide near the moon’s polar regions. The presence of this chemical, which we use on Earth as a disinfectant and bleaching agent, results from the interaction between charged particles around Jupiter and Ganymede, and the ice covering the moon.
The team argues that radiolysis—the process whereby radiation breaks down molecules—is behind hydrogen peroxide production on Ganymede. “Just like how Earth’s magnetic field directs charged particles from the sun to the highest latitudes, causing the aurora, Ganymede’s magnetic field does the same thing to charged particles from Jupiter’s magnetosphere,” Trumbo added. “Not only do these particles result in aurorae at Ganymede, as well, but they also impact the icy surface.
Io’s atmosphere mainly consists of sulfur dioxide , a product of melting sulfur dioxide ice and volcanic eruptions. These volcanoes also produce sulfur monoxide, which is difficult to detect. When in Jupiter’s shadow, however, the sulfur dioxide in Io’s atmosphere freezes onto the surface, leaving behind sulfur monoxide and newly emitted volcanic sulfur dioxide gas. Beneficially, the glowing sulfur monoxide becomes visible when cast within Jupiter’s shadow.
“The link between SO and volcanoes ties in with a hypothesis we had in 2002 to explain how we could see SO emission at all,” de Pater explained. “The only way we could explain this emission is if the SO is excited in the volcanic vent at a temperature of 1,500 Kelvin [ 2,240 degrees Fahrenheit] or so, and that it comes out in this excited state, loses its photon within a few seconds, and that is the emission we see.
Webb continues to astound, whether it’s by making discoveries millions of light years away, or just a few million miles from home.
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