Jupiters Red Spot Has A Child

[Saint_Michael 3]

Just saw this one the wire looks like Jupiters red spot gain a child.

If you all know your planetary science the red spot is a giant storm thats 3x the size of earth and is clocked at over 400mph. Hate to be in that bad boy

But what makes it interesting is the the scientists are shocked that this happen. They claim jupiter has many surprises and since we won't see what happen to jupiter for the next few months (behind the sun) the storm could become bigger later on.

[Plenoptic 0]

That's really rather interesting. Does that mean one day thousands maybe milllions of years from now Jupiter will be one big storm in the sky? Like they keep growing or just a temporary thing that lasts thousands of years. I really do wonder what's going to happen with these things. It sounds like a tornado from hell. I really would hate to have to go through that thing although I think they should create something that can if they haven't already.

[MIGUE2k7 0]

So interesting. I dont believe Jupiter would turn into a giant storm, just think, before the storm reaches to its max point, it would have already destroyed the planet, and what i think, is that the storm would dissapear in the space, (or maybe not, cause jupiter is a gas planet XD)But if that can be possible, i dont wanna think what would happen to the planets near to it (maybe also earth o.O )

[husker 0]

Perhaps the storm will throw poisonous gas in our environment and kill us all! Jupiter is fairly large so I cant imagine it becoming a giant storm. I wonder how the storm was created? Its not really close to the bigger one, which is interesting. Only cool geeks truely appretiate this stuff.

Edited October 12, 2006 by husker (see edit history)

[Saint_Michael 3]

@pleno from the article it said that this storm developed over a year and just how big it is. I could assume given a few more years to develop like it as it could be as big as the red maybe even dwarf it. If you click on the nasa link they showed picturess of the storm developing

Right now the red spot has lasted 300+ years (most likly from when it was discovered).

As I know of the atmosphere of jupiter is is one huge giant storm with miniture storms with in it.

as you can tell by this picture you can see many different storms.

 

@MIGUE2k7 actually no one knows if their is a land mass, several attempts of sending a satellite into jupiter have been unsucessful due to the huge gravity jupiter has. Like I mentioned earlier the red spot storm has lasted over 300 years maybe more. I highly doubt anything would get out due to that gravity, Jupiter would have to explode to maybe cause some damage.

 

@husker that won't happen due to the distance between us and jupiter it wouldn't make it. Well look at how tornados are created here, the same process must go into it as well. Also clips have been shown of the gas rings rotate so it would just be a matter of time before they combine into each other to form it's inner core and what not.

[me_boxer_dude 0]

I have heard and read that Jupiter in its entirety is nothing but a big ball of gases so it kind of comes to mind that if this storm keeps on growing(while we are not watching it) it might as well turn the whole planet into a fast moving tornado circling the sun.

[Plenoptic 0]

I have heard and read that Jupiter in its entirety is nothing but a big ball of gases so it kind of comes to mind that if this storm keeps on growing(while we are not watching it) it might as well turn the whole planet into a fast moving tornado circling the sun.

That was sort of my idea. Sort of out there but you never know. SM I know there are other storms out there, I didn't realize that the big one has only been there 300 years though. I guess they are like storms on Earth maybe but last a lot longer. Of course that could be different for the big storm I don't know if that'll end. I might have to do a bit of research while on vacation.

[salamangkero 0]

@MIGUE2k7 actually no one knows if their is a land mass, several attempts of sending a satellite into jupiter have been unsucessful due to the huge gravity jupiter has.

It is inferred that beneath all those billowing clouds, Jupiter has a small, but massive, core. For one, if it were purely gas, then it would not have enough gravity to retain its spherical shape. Also, the pressure of all the matter from the upper layers of the atmosphere would be enough to compress the underlying gases into a solid, or at least, liquid, form.

"Oh Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore"

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

well, also dont forget that the pictures we see of planets are much older than what the planet actually is today. SO for all we know, the storm could be over.... because i think that if it were to have blown up or whatever we would have allready felt the terror of the reaction... so umm i dunnogood find though

[Saint_Michael 3]

@salamangkero you do make a good point that their should be some sort of land mass In order for it to have gravity. That of course would have to include saturn uranus and neptune as well.How ever someone correct me on this doesn't the rotation of the planet and the magnetism contribue to gravity as well as mass and weight?I don't know the formula to how graivty works off the top of my head but I do believe it has to do with mass volume weight and overall size that determines what kind of gravity it has.

[NigaiAmaiYume 0]

If it weren't for Saturn, Jupiter would have to be my favorite of all the planets for coolness. I just LOVE the lines the gases develop, the permenant red storm - and now, another one!

 

Saturn only wins because of the rings AND having stripes. ^-^

 

One thing, though. Since Big Red has been relatively stable as long as we've been monitoring it (As far as I know...), perhaps Red Jr will also stablize once it reaches a certain size. After all, while it produces a lot of energy, there are also a lot of forces working AGAINST Red Jr (AKA all the gases surrounding it! ^-^)

 

And even though these storms are HUGE by just about any scale we can think of - just look how TINY they are in comparison to Jupiter itself (Especially when you remember all pictures are only showing us half the planet). I'd be a little more worried if there were more storms, but at the moment, two of this scale strikes me as safe.

 

Am I just naive?

 

@husker - Honestly, I doubt Jupiter could make ANYTHING worse than the SUN in terms of poisons, since stars are pretty much balanced nuclear reactions. As well, the Sun is a lot closer to Earth than Jupiter (See below), and anything would have to travel the vacuum of space THROUGH the astroid belt. I think Earth is safe. ^-^ Could have an effect on nearby stuff, though...

 

@AD - It's not as far as you're thinking, actually. This is true of starts, hundreds of lightyears away. Nasa.gov reveals the following stats (All distances average because the orbits are not perfect circles):

 

Jupiter's distance from Sun: 778,412,020 km

Earth's distance from Sun: 149,597,890 km

 

Therefore, estimate an average of (778,412,020 - 149,597,890) 628,814,130 km distance between Earth and Jupiter.

 

A light year is 9,500,000,000,000 km, which makes Jupiter an estimated (628,814,130/9,500,000,000,000) 0.0000661 light years away. Therefore, it takes about (365*6.61X10-5) 0.024 days or only 34.56 MINUTES for light from Jupiter to reach us here on Earth.

 

I assume. I might have screwed up somewhere.... But I think my calculations are correct.

 

Edit: Actually, there IS a problem somewhere in my calculations - or more precisely, an incorrect assumption. I figured it out afterwards. ^-^ Can anyone catch it? Does anyone care? LOL

Edited October 15, 2006 by NigaiAmaiYume (see edit history)