Great Red Spot - Junior!

Apparently NASA has discovered that Jupiter has grown another red spot - here's the link to the BBC story. news.bbc.co.uk...

I wonder what life would be like in the clouds of Jupiter - maybe like Bespin? Only without the breathable atmosphere, obviously...

That is way cool, thanks for sharing.

They say its unknown what causes the red color, maybe it could become all red over time.

Hald the size of the big red spot is still very big. The storm is about the size of Earth.

10 bucks to anybody who wants to test the wind speed in person

U guys do know its a storm right, the main one has been continuing for millions of years. Dont know if u new that already

Originally posted by firmbeliever
U guys do know its a storm right, the main one has been continuing for millions of years. Dont know if u new that already

Just an FYI..not millions of years...

The Great Red Spot that has dominated the planet Jupiter's cloudtops for hundreds of years now has a companion.

news.bbc.co.uk...

- One Man Short

Actually, we don't really know how long that one has been around. It was discovered a few hundred years ago, yeah, but it was basically the same as it is today. Who knows how long before its discovery it had existed.

I think this is an EXCELLENT discovery - and one whilst mysterious, definitely will be interesting when our Pluto-bound friend makes its pass by Jupiter.

The Great Red Spot was first observed by Galileo using his telescope, and so it's entirely unknown how long that spot has been there for - but we do know it's been for AT LEAST 300 years.

It has always been suspected that the Red Spot is kept going by it absorbing other storms that start to form. Since it takes so long for the storm to lose energy (given that there's no "land" for it to lose energy over), even one absorption every few hundred years could keep it going.

Red Jr seems to show how something like this could have started, with three smaller storms cumulating into one big storm, and then that storm "keeping alive" for such a long period of time. I'd actually predict that this Red Junior will, eventually, form up with the Great Red Spot - which would make the Red Spot continue for longer still.

However, of MOST interesting note is that these three little white storms combined, and now, only after a few years, has the storm turned red. This helps give us an idea of how these storms work, since the reason for the Red Spot being red was previously unknown. As mentioned in the article, it is believed that a powerful storm forms something like a tornadoe that pulls up heavier materials from below the cloud layer into the upper atmosphere. These then react to the sunlight and undergo chemical processes that turn the clouds "red". Considering that Red Jr has risen in strength, this theory is looking to now be well supported!

Great to see!

Originally posted by Darkmind
I wonder what life would be like in the clouds of Jupiter - maybe like Bespin? Only without the breathable atmosphere, obviously...

hey, if i can't farkin' smoke there, i ain't farkin' goin'.

Originally posted by Yarium
It has always been suspected that the Red Spot is kept going by it absorbing other storms that start to form. Since it takes so long for the storm to lose energy (given that there's no "land" for it to lose energy over), even one absorption every few hundred years could keep it going.

Out of curiosity, If there is no land, how come the big red spot, does not go straight to the other side of the planet? I find it hard to belive that the whole planet is gas, especially since, I think that our current list of elements is probably very very small compared to what could be out there.
sorry, a little off topic.

Originally posted by acura_el2000
Out of curiosity, If there is no land, how come the big red spot, does not go straight to the other side of the planet? I find it hard to belive that the whole planet is gas, especially since, I think that our current list of elements is probably very very small compared to what could be out there.
sorry, a little off topic.

Well, it's got to do with gravity, density, and chemistry.

First of all, it is very unlikely that there are tons more Elements out there - as we have the first 100+ down pretty well, and beyond that the atoms become way too unstable and decay before anything can be analyzed about them. However, there could well be MANY kinds of chemicals and molecules and other things because of the vast combination that you could put all these chemicals in!

Now, why doesn't the Great Red Spot carry through the planet? Because the gas of Jupiter gets denser and denser the further down you go. This is caused by gravity trying to pull all the pieces of Jupiter together. It pushes the molecules and atoms closer and closer together.

However, when something heats up, the molecules and atoms move further away from each other. This is what causes hot air to rise (put your hand 5 cm above a working stove and you'll feel this intensely).

Now on earth, when a storm is over water, it will carry a certain amount of heat and "energy" with it. The warm parts of the air and water vapour (important since, when in vapour form, warming it can cause it to become lighter than the normal air around it) rise up. As the water rises up and the temperature drops, the water condenses back into water and not water vapour. It then falls. Over an ocean though, this exchange in energy is pretty constant - the warm oceans continue to "evaporate" (so to speak) and fuel the storm that's over it with more water and energy than the storm is releasing (or perhaps it simply sustains it, or prevents it from dissipating so quickly).

This is why a storm loses so much power when it makes landfall. Now, although the ground may be warm, it'll be quickly cooled by the water falling onto it, meanwhile that water will not be sufficiently warmed to rise back up and keep the storm powered. The storm essentially rains itself out, since nothing more is being added to the storm.


Now on Jupiter, since there's no land (just denser and denser clouds of gas that eventually become so dense it acts like water), a storm on Jupiter can't rain itself out. It's like a hurrican going over a perpetual ocean. Although it may "rain" down other gases or whatnot, the gas that falls will soon rise back up because of the heat. The sun keeps this cycle ongoing for awhile, but eventually a storm will still run out as that energy is released. As I said, the storm might be able to keep itself going by absorbing other storms - essentially helping to keep it powered by absorbing the power of the other storm.

Now, yes, towards the center of Jupiter (far towards the center) there is probably some kind of solid. This would be there since the earliest parts of the solar system formed. However, don't expect mountains and valleys. The intense pressure and gravity would flatten anything, and it would probably look like a perfect spherical ball.

If Jupiter is capable of perpetually keeping storms going, then isn't it possible that a large storm could actually continue to build and build, to the point that it will eventually engulf the entire planet? Or will the gravity, density, etc prevent this from happening as well?

Also just wondering, have any scientists on Earth been able to compress a gas so much that it becomes a solid? I know you can turn oxygen, etc into liquid, but has anyone ever turned it into a solid? With the exception of ice and dry ice.

Originally posted by Yarcofin
If Jupiter is capable of perpetually keeping storms going, then isn't it possible that a large storm could actually continue to build and build, to the point that it will eventually engulf the entire planet...

The end result would be that Jupiter turns into our second SUN...

Let see what happen in 5 years or so...

Originally posted by mwen
The end result would be that Jupiter turns into our second SUN...

Let see what happen in 5 years or so...

So... Uh... The Red Spot has been around for at least 300 years, but in the next five years or so it'll cause Jupiter to become a star? Right...

Jupiter lacks the proper gasses, and, more importantly, the mass to do so. So no, Jupiter will not become a star.

[edit on 3/12/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]

Yes, Jupiter is far too small to begin nuclear fusion, and even if it did - it would lack the mass to sustain that process.

As for a growing storm, I'm sure there's some kind of limit to the size of the storm per surface area of the planet or something. The storm DOES lose energy - even if just from kinetics and the laws of energy translation. It just keeps powered by the absorption of smaller storms and jet streams.

The larger a storm is, the faster it loses energy - so maybe whilst it could be possible for a storm to grow to a massive size on Jupiter - beyond this imaginary limit, it could be that it just disipates way too fast. Mind you, this is just speculation, and should not be regarded as fact.

If there is a size limit, then I'm sure it's the same size as the Great Red Spot. I only would think that because it hasn't changed in size much over the past few hundred years. But who really knows?

Is it possible the two storms may merge?

I would be nice to witness something like that.