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'Textbooks will need to be updated': Jupiter is smaller and flatter than we thought, Juno spacecraft reveals (www.livescience.com)
submitted 9 months ago by to c/space@mander.xyz
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Jupiter is slightly smaller and flatter than scientists thought for decades, a new study finds.

Researchers used radio data from the Juno spacecraft to refine measurements of the solar system's largest planet. Although the differences between the current and previous measurements are small, they are improving models of Jupiter's interior and of other gas giants like it outside the solar system, the team reported Feb. 2 in the journal Nature Astronomy.

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[–] 2 points 9 months ago

I think it could be, but the implication is at issue. It's not like we need to update text books to say Jupiter isn't the biggest planet anymore. It's that we need to update the new versions to show how our improved measuring has allowed us to refine our knowledge.

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