LASP Science Seminars
Using Juno to Diagnose the Origin of Jupiter
Jonathan Lunine (Cornell University)
The story of Jupiter’s formation prior to Juno was straightforward: either the planet formed by direct collapse of the gas in the disk from which our solar system formed, or a two-step process occurred in which a core of icy and rocky elements was built up first. Juno has forced a revision of this dichotomous picture, supporting a more complex view of the interactions between the growing Jupiter, the gas from which the Sun and planets formed, and icy building blocks. Juno’s data on the atmosphere and interior suggest a complex evolution of gas and grains took place in the protoplanetary disk. I will describe the modern view of planet formation with pebbles and planetesimals, gaps and pressure bumps in the gas– a strange menagerie of ideas from the planet formation literature that Juno seems to be pointing us to.