The article was originally published at The Conversation.
Lucyna Kedziora-Chudczer is a Program Manager at the University of Technology.
Will the big storm on Jupiter ever go away?
I'm Edgar! Thank you for the question.
The weather on Jupiter is very wild. There are beautiful images of Jupiter which show the whole planet.
Jupiter is covered with storms. Some are small and some are so large they could cover all of Earth.
The shadow of Jupiter's largest moon looms in a new photo.
The Great Red Spot is the largest of the storms. This spot is similar to hurricanes and cyclones on Earth.
It is made of strong winds blowing in circles, like tea in a cup. The winds are five times faster than hurricanes.
Jupiter's storms are similar to the Great Red Spot. It has been roaming for a long time, but recently it has gotten smaller.
Does that mean it will be gone one day? Not necessarily.
Jupiter is a stripy ball that spins very fast. The light-colored stripes are clouds with rising air, while the dark-colored stripes are clouds that are sinking.
You can see the winds blowing in opposite directions when you see dark and light stripes next to each other on Jupiter. They can spin up big cyclones, like how pushing a beach ball with one hand and pulling it with another will make it spin.
Humans have been watching the Great Red Spot for at least 200 years and it has been blowing strong winds.
It can change from day to day. Sometimes it looks like an egg. Its color can change from brownish-red to pale red. It sometimes looks white.
Scientists have noticed that the enormous cyclone is Shrinking. The Great Red Spot was three times larger than it is today.
It helps to first understand why the weather on Earth shrinks.
On Earth, storms form above warm oceans before moving onto the land or cooler water. When the winds rub against the land, they slow down.
It is possible for a cyclone to be away within a few days due to other weather and winds around them.
Jupiter does not have a hard, rocky surface like Earth. The air in Jupiter is very hot even though it is freezing. The hot air gives storms a lot of energy to rage on.
Even though the Great Red Storm is getting smaller, it can still get a bit taller. It has a lot of energy to keep going.
As it slams into other storms and winds around it, we can see it at the edges. Astronomers don't know if this will make it go away completely. It might break up into many smaller storms one day.
The space probe took pictures of Jupiter's storms while flying by the planet. We might learn something new from these images.
As the Great Red Spot rages on, we may as well admire it.
The article is licensed under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
Follow all of the Expert Voices issues and debates and become a part of the discussion on social media. The author's views are not necessarily those of the publisher.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
