Jupiter's New Visitor

by Clifford Johnson     Department: Space

There's a new red spot on Jupiter. This is the second one to appear on Jupiter beyond the traditional Great Red Spot, which has been around for at least 200 to 350 years. Red Spot Jr. appeared two years ago. Now this new one. Here's some of the press release from the Space Telescope Science Institute:

The new red spot was previously a white oval-shaped storm. The change to a red color indicates its swirling storm clouds are rising to heights like the clouds of the Great Red Spot. One possible explanation is that the red storm is so powerful it dredges material from deep beneath Jupiter's cloud tops and lifts it to higher altitudes where solar ultraviolet radiation -- via some unknown chemical reaction -- produces the familiar brick color.

This is all quite remarkable, as the Hubble picture shows:

So what's going on? Well, so far, nobody knows for sure, but:

The Hubble and Keck images may support the idea that Jupiter is in the midst of global climate change, as first proposed in 2004 by Phil Marcus, a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. The planet's temperatures may be changing by 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit. The giant planet is getting warmer near the equator and cooler near the South Pole. He predicted that large changes would start in the southern hemisphere around 2006, causing the jet streams to become unstable and spawn new vortices.

One to watch. It's fascinating, and who knows what we might learn about our own world from this...

-cvj

Tags: jupiter, red spot