Jupiter is one of the well - studied planets in the Solar System , and yet the natural gas giant is still hiding plenty of surprises and mysteries . One was discovered at a length , thanks to the keen infrared eye of JWST . There is a high - speed jet flow over Jupiter ’s equator about 40 kilometers ( 25 miles ) above the independent cloud decks .

The cat valium stream is over 4,800 kilometers ( 3,000 miles ) widely and its nothingness are move at a f number of 515 klick ( 320 miles ) per hour . That ’s twice as fast as a Category five hurricane and a fair bit faster than the stiff gust of windever recorded on Earth . And before JWST , stargazer had no idea it was there .

“ This is something that totally surprised us , ” hint writer Ricardo Hueso of the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao , Spain , enunciate in astatement . “ What we have always seen as blurred hazes in Jupiter ’s air now appear as crisp features that we can chase after along with the planet ’s fast rotation . ”

The stream is confined to plus or minus three level from the equator . JWST ’s infrared capabilitiesallow us to measure hazes that sit far above the cloud . The research team compared the observations from JWST to the views from Hubble that come from deeper in the atmosphere . By comparing the movement of the two layers , they could work out how tight the reverse lightning stream was move .

And that is not all . The combination of the two information sets take into account the research worker to keep an eye on the evolution of convective storms around the equator of Jupiter . These are unrelated to the green current but go to show the power of different observatories working in tandem bicycle . And the team plan to keep follow these weather phenomenon .

“ Jupiter has a complicated but repeatable traffic pattern of twist and temperatures in its equatorial stratosphere , luxuriously above the winds in the cloud and hazes measure at these wavelengths , ” explained team member Leigh Fletcher of the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom . “ If the strength of this new spurt is connected to this oscillating stratospheric pattern , we might have a bun in the oven the jet to vary substantially over the next two to four years – it ’ll be really exciting to examine this possibility in the years to come . ”

“ It ’s awing to me that , after years of tracking Jupiter ’s clouds and wind from numerous observatories , we still have more to learn about Jupiter , and sport like this jet can stay hidden from view until these young NIRCam images were take on in 2022 , ” continue Fletcher .

The paper is print in the journalNature Astronomy .