Water Molecules Detected Above Jupiter’s Great Red Spot

(Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/MSSS/ Gerald Eichstädt /Seán Doran) Jupiter is without a doubt inhospitable, but it does have one thing going for it — increasing evidence that it’s rich in water. Astrophysicist Gordon L. Bjoraker of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center recently published a paper in the Astronomical Journal, outlining how he and his team of researchers detected signatures of water emitting from Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. By studying the giant storm with ground-based telescopes, they were able to observe molecular hydrogen and oxygen at infrared wavelengths, backing up theories that Jupiter could actually be abundant in water.