Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is even deeper than scientists had thought
[ad_1]
It’s hard to imagine the sheer scale of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot from here on Earth, because the storm is so big that it could swallow our planet.
Now, it turns out, the Great Red Spot isn’t just wide: it’s deep too, quite a bit deeper than anybody expected. Data from NASA’s Juno spacecraft has shown that the behemoth storm extends as much as 310 miles (500 kilometers) beneath Jupiter’s cloud tops. And the Jupiter maelstrom is linked to jets that go far deeper, hinting that the giant planet’s upper and lower atmospheres are tied together.
These findings come thanks to two groups of scientists, who analyzed data gathered by two different Juno instruments.
Related: Photos of Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the solar system’s biggest storm
One group measured the Great Red Spot’s gravity. It began as a simple idea: to turn Juno’s Gravity Science instrument on the 10,000-mile-wide (16,000 km) storm, in order to see if it left behind any fingerprints on Jupiter’s gravitational field.
“This wasn’t part of the original Juno proposal,” said Marzia Parisi, a scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, who led the study that reported the gravity results.
Using gravity measurements to investigate atmospheric phenomena isn’t new; it’s been done on Earth, for instance, by the twin satellites of NASA’s GRACE (“Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment”) mission. Gravity instruments can also see deeper into the atmosphere than other instruments tend to see. This just had never been done with the Great Red Spot.
But even after the idea was approved, Parisi and her colleagues had no idea if they would actually find anything. The Great Red Spot might be a colossus, but it’s a drop in the bucket of Jupiter’s total mass. And, Parisi said, “if you don’t know how deep the Great Red Spot is, you can’t predict what you’re going to see.”
But the researchers did indeed pick up fluctuations in Jupiter’s gravitational field, enough for them to get a handle on the storm’s depth: 310 miles (500 km), taller than the distance from sea level to the International Space Station. And the great storm seems to be fed by jets that reach down far deeper — as much as 1,900 miles (3,000 km), the team found.
At the same time, a different group was studying the Great Red Spot with Juno’s Microwave Radiometer, an instrument that probes the planet’s atmosphere with microwaves. These scientists wanted to look deep into the storm to see how it ticked, vertically.
They found that the Spot, along with several other storms on Jupiter, stretches far down, with precipitation and drafts at unprecedented depths. They found signatures of these phenomena below Jupiter’s cloud level, beneath which the ammonia and water in the atmosphere are expected to condense.
Together, the gravity and microwave measurements hint that Jupiter’s upper atmosphere is meaningfully connected to these depths.
Juno has been making long, looping orbits around Jupiter since 2016, and NASA recently extended its mission until 2025. Soon, if all goes according to plan, Juno’s orbital path will move to take the probe over the planet’s north pole — and away from the Great Red Spot, which is farther south. But, according to Parisi, Juno’s instruments will get the chance to watch other curiosities, such as Jupiter’s cryptic polar cyclones.
“And then we have the moons,” said Parisi. “We flew by Ganymede already, and we’re going to do that for Europa and Io. They’re obviously going to collect data there as well.”
Both of the new studies were published online today (Oct. 28) in the journal Science. You can find them here and here.
Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.
[ad_2]
Original Post
You are my inhalation, I own few blogs and very sporadically run out from to post .
Hello! I just would like to give a huge thumbs up for the great info you have here on this post. I will be coming back to your blog for more soon.
Hey, you used to write fantastic, but the last few posts have been kinda boringK I miss your tremendous writings. Past few posts are just a little bit out of track! come on!
What¦s Going down i am new to this, I stumbled upon this I have found It positively helpful and it has aided me out loads. I am hoping to give a contribution & assist different customers like its helped me. Great job.
Good V I should certainly pronounce, impressed with your website. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs and related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Reasonably unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or anything, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Excellent task..
Wonderful blog! I found it while browsing on Yahoo News. Do you have any tips on how to get listed in Yahoo News? I’ve been trying for a while but I never seem to get there! Thank you
You are a very smart individual!
I have been absent for a while, but now I remember why I used to love this website. Thank you, I¦ll try and check back more often. How frequently you update your website?
you might have a fantastic weblog right here! would you like to make some invite posts on my weblog?
I really appreciate this post. I have been looking all over for this! Thank goodness I found it on Bing. You have made my day! Thank you again!
It’s a shame you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this superb blog! I suppose for now i’ll settle for bookmarking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this site with my Facebook group. Talk soon!
It’s actually a nice and useful piece of info. I’m happy that you shared this helpful information with us. Please keep us informed like this. Thank you for sharing.
Hmm is anyone else encountering problems with the images on this blog loading? I’m trying to find out if its a problem on my end or if it’s the blog. Any responses would be greatly appreciated.
Great – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, web site theme . a tones way for your client to communicate. Nice task.
Good day very nice web site!! Guy .. Beautiful .. Wonderful .. I’ll bookmark your site and take the feeds alsoKI am glad to search out so many useful info right here within the put up, we want work out extra techniques in this regard, thanks for sharing. . . . . .
I’ve learn some excellent stuff here. Certainly worth bookmarking for revisiting. I surprise how a lot attempt you set to make this kind of fantastic informative website.
The next time I read a weblog, I hope that it doesnt disappoint me as a lot as this one. I mean, I do know it was my option to read, but I truly thought youd have something attention-grabbing to say. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something that you might fix if you werent too busy in search of attention.
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it. Look advanced to far added agreeable from you! However, how could we communicate?
I have not checked in here for some time because I thought it was getting boring, but the last several posts are good quality so I guess I?¦ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend 🙂
Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Nowadays bloggers publish only about gossips and internet and this is actually irritating. A good blog with interesting content, that’s what I need. Thank you for keeping this website, I will be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Cant find it.
Hi, I think your blog might be having browser compatibility issues. When I look at your blog site in Ie, it looks fine but when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping. I just wanted to give you a quick heads up! Other then that, amazing blog!
whoah this weblog is fantastic i like studying your articles. Stay up the good work! You realize, many individuals are looking around for this info, you can help them greatly.
Hey just wanted to give you a brief heads up and let you know a few of the images aren’t loading properly. I’m not sure why but I think its a linking issue. I’ve tried it in two different internet browsers and both show the same results.
Puravive is a weight loss supplement that targets the root cause of weight gain issues in men and women.
Some genuinely quality blog posts on this website , saved to fav.
Hello, i think that i saw you visited my blog so i came to “return the favor”.I’m attempting to find things to improve my site!I suppose its ok to use a few of your ideas!!
I?¦ve recently started a blog, the info you offer on this site has helped me tremendously. Thank you for all of your time & work.
Its wonderful as your other posts : D, appreciate it for putting up.
Hi! Quick question that’s totally off topic. Do you know how to make your site mobile friendly? My blog looks weird when viewing from my iphone 4. I’m trying to find a template or plugin that might be able to fix this issue. If you have any suggestions, please share. Thanks!