Updating Jupiter's Shape integrating novel gravity experiments results and radio occultation measurements

This dissertation presents a methodology for precisely determining the shape of Jupiter, integrating the most updated gravity results collected by the Juno probe and radio occultation measurements obtained by Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 probes, along with recent findings from Juno. Our analysis includes the cloud-level zonal wind profiles collected from the Hubble Space Telescope’s Wide Field Camera 3 in the years 2009, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2019, and from Voyager 2 in 1979. Initially, the study estimates the dynamical height, accounting for the contributions of gravitational zonal harmonics and the perturbation effects introduced by cloud-level zonal winds. Gravitational harmonics analysis highlights the significant impact of J2 and J4 coefficients on Jupiter’s shape, with minimal contribution from odd zonal harmonics. Cloud-level winds’ variation effects on the shape are evaluated, as well as the analysis of the effects die to uncertainties associated with the gravitational coefficients, zonal winds, and the planet’s polar radius and rotation rate. In the second part of this work, we perform a comparison between the calculated shape and radio occultation measurements, to estimate the polar radius from the results obtained through radio occultations. We find a promising improvement in the consistency between the estimated dynamical height and radio occultations, with a root mean square error of the calculated dynamical height approximately 3 km lower with respect to the value currently accepted in literature, although non-negligible uncertainties associated with radio occultations and the internal models employed to describe Jupiter’s dynamics persist.