New NASA images show 'it's snowing on Jupiter,' scientists say

Click through to see NASA's costliest space missions. New NASA images of Jupiter show white clouds that scientists believe may produce snow or hail. Click through to see NASA's costliest space missions. New NASA images of Jupiter show white clouds that scientists believe may produce snow or hail. Photo: NASA Photo: NASA Image 1 of / 26 Caption Close New NASA images show 'it's snowing on Jupiter,' scientists say 1 / 26 Back to Gallery

NASA's newest images of Jupiter aren't only spectacular to look at, they also hide details to the planet's funky climate.

Barley visible among the planet's large, swirling storms are tiny white clouds that scientists now believe may produce icy weather conditions.

"The idea of seeing those little cloud features full of ammonia and water ice, it's like it's snowing on Jupiter and we're seeing how it works," said Scott Bolton, Juno principal investigator, during a news conference.

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The Juno spacecraft arrived at Jupiter last year after a 5-year voyage. Since then, the probe's data and images have reshaped the way scientists view the gas giant.

"The general theme of our discoveries is really how different Jupiter looked from how we expected," said Bolton. "This is a close-up and personal look at Jupiter. We thought it was uniform inside and relatively boring. What we're finding is anything but that. It's very complex."

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According to Bolton, Jupiter's icy clouds are probably made up of ammonia ice and could even produce hail instead of snow.

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