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In What Form Is the Water on Jupiter?

Water on the planet Jupiter exists in the form of water vapor. Sometimes enough accumulates in one place to form water clouds. Astronomers think Jupiter should have proportionally at least as much water as the Sun, but so far they haven't found as much as they expected.

Planet Jupiter
- Jupiter, the fifth and largest planet in our solar system, is a gas giant. Its best known feature is the Great Red Spot---an enormous storm system three times wider than planet Earth at its widest diameter. Astronomers have been observing the storm since the 1600s.
Jupiter's Atmosphere
- Jupiter is composed mostly of atmosphere, with perhaps a small solid core at the center. Atmospheric gases include mostly hydrogen and helium, but also water, methane, ammonia, carbon monoxide, phosphine, acetylene, ethane and germanium. Although the Sun powers the weather on Earth, Jupiter's internal heat powers its massive storm systems.
Scientific Spacecraft
- Six spacecrafts have acquired scientific data about Jupiter and its moons: Pioneer 10, Pioneer-Saturn, Voyager 1, Voyager 2, Ulysses and Galileo. Galileo orbited Jupiter from 1995 to 2003 and sent a probe into its atmosphere in 1995, learning most of what astronomers presently know about Jupiter's atmosphere and the quantity of water in it.

Astronomy