Institute for Advanced Study / Princeton University Joint Astrophysics Colloquium
Unveiling the secrets of Jupiter with the Juno mission
With more than 4000 exoplanets found and about 2-dozens of planets with detected atmospheric chemical species, we moved from an era of discovery to a new era of exoplanet characterisation. On the other hand, extremely accurate measurements by Juno and Cassini missions, make this an exceptional time to combine the detail information on the solar system giant planets and the large amount of data from exoplanets to get a better understanding on planetary physics and a better comprehension on planet formation and evolution.
Because our knowledge on the interior structure of the giant planets is linked with the data we obtain from space missions, these last years were crucial for this field: the outstanding accuracy of the gravity data provided by Juno has fundamentally changed our understanding of the interior of Jupiter. It has allowed us to put constrains on the zonal flows, the extent of differential rotation and lead us to find that Jupiter has most likely a dilute core. In this presentation I will review our knowledge on the interior structure of Jupiter and will also show some new results where we find that a non-homogenous envelope is also a constraint set up by the Juno measurements, which is helping us to get closer to unveiling Jupiter’s deep secrets and to reach a better understanding of the giant planets formation history.