- #1
stoned
- 83
- 0
what caused that huge red spot on Jupiter ?
Bladibla said:Well, how do storms form on the earth?
The Great Red Spot (GRS) has been seen by Earthly observers for more than 300 years... The GRS is an oval about 12,000 by 25,000 km, big enough to hold two Earths. Other smaller but similar spots have been known for decades. Infrared observations and the direction of its rotation indicate that the GRS is a high-pressure region whose cloud tops are significantly higher and colder than the surrounding regions. Similar structures have been seen on Saturn and Neptune. It is not known how such structures can persist for so long.
Garth said:It seems to be a persistent 'hurricane' of some sort. The energy for which may come from two sources. One is the corriolis force of Jupiter's rotation. Because Jupiter is very large (11X diameter of Earth) and rotating rapidly this force is much larger than on Earth, the second is the internal heat of Jupiter itself. One of the interesting things about Jupiter is that it radiates more energy than it receives. This may be due to the fact that the gas giant is still gravitationally collapsing, and maybe it has substantial internal radioactive heat sources.
Garth
Phobos said:Similar structures have been seen on Saturn and Neptune.
misskitty said:Wait if the gas the planet is made of is still collapsing, wouldn't that mean it will eventually implode on itself?
The Great Red Spot is a gigantic, high-pressure storm on the surface of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
The Great Red Spot is about 1.3 times the diameter of Earth, making it roughly 13,000 kilometers wide.
The Great Red Spot has been observed for over 300 years, with the first recorded sighting in 1665 by Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini.
The exact cause of the Great Red Spot is still unknown, but it is believed to be a massive anticyclonic storm, fueled by the planet's strong winds and atmospheric conditions.
Yes, the Great Red Spot has been shrinking for at least the past century, with recent observations showing a decrease in size by about 240 kilometers per year.