The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
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Distribution of water in the stratosphere of Jupiter as measured with ESA's Herschel space observatory with the PACS instrument at 66.4 microns. The data have been superimposed over an image of Jupiter taken at visible wavelengths with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope.
A clear asymmetry is shown in the distribution of water, with more abundant in the southern hemisphere (white/cyan) and far less detected in the northern hemisphere (darker blue shades).
A new study using Herschel finally links Jupiter’s upper atmosphere water to the comet impact of Shoemaker-Levy 9 in 1994, during which 21 comet fragments struck the planet at intermediate southern latitudes.