What did the probe detect in Jupiters atmosphere?
The spectrometer detected in Jupiter’s atmosphere higher than expected concentrations of Argon, Krypton and Xenon, three chemical elements called noble gases because they are very independent and don’t combine with other chemicals. Tiny traces of these gases are found in Earth’s atmosphere, and Argon is sometimes used like Neon in advertising signs. The discovery of these gases in such high quantities at Jupiter raises questions about how they got there. In order to catch these gases, Jupiter had to trap them physically by condensation or freezing – this process requires extremely cold temperatures of about -240 degrees Centigrade, colder than the surface of Pluto! Planetesimals (small objects orbiting the Sun) in the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto would be this cold, but Jupiter is more than 6 times closer to the Sun and thus is much warmer. For this reason, scientists believe that Jupiter could not have been the site where the three noble gases were originally trapped. One explanation sugg
