The Moon shoots the gap between some bright companions tonight: the planet Jupiter and the star Pollux, the brighter “twin” of Gemini. They climb into good view by about 10:30 or 11, and stand high overhead at dawn tomorrow.

Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, and it has the most turbulent atmosphere. Hurricane-like storms as big as continents twirl across it.

Thunderstorms can produce lightning bolts far more powerful than any on Earth, as recorded by a passing spacecraft. And the storms might produce their own giant hailstones: “mushballs” as big as softballs.

The idea was first proposed in 2020. And a study published earlier this year supports it. The study used observations by the Juno spacecraft, which is orbiting Jupiter, along with Hubble Space Telescope and a radio telescope on Earth

The study says the mushballs may begin as droplets of frozen water far below the cloud deck. They get caught in updrafts that howl at 200 miles an hour.

They’re carried to the tops of the clouds, which can be tens of miles thick. Along the way, the ice mixes with ammonia, forming a slushy liquid. When the balls get heavy enough, they begin to drop. As they descend, they’re coated with fresh ice, giving them a hard shell around a slushy middle – mushballs.

The mushballs plunge hundreds of miles below the clouds, where they vaporize – “mushing” into the depths of the giant planet.

Script by Damond Benningfield