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Great Red Spot

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Space (Astronomy)

                        The Great Red Spot as seen from Voyager 1 in 1979.
                                                                   Enlarge
                        The Great Red Spot as seen from Voyager 1 in 1979.

              Approximate size comparison of Earth and the Great Red Spot.
                                                                   Enlarge
              Approximate size comparison of Earth and the Great Red Spot.

                               Colour animation of Jupiter's cloud motion.
                                                                   Enlarge
                               Colour animation of Jupiter's cloud motion.

                                        An animation of the Great Red Spot
                                                                   Enlarge
                                        An animation of the Great Red Spot

      Image of Jupiter by Pioneer 10 in 1974, showing a more solid looking
                                                        spot than Voyager.
                                                                   Enlarge
      Image of Jupiter by Pioneer 10 in 1974, showing a more solid looking
                                                        spot than Voyager.

   The Great Red Spot is a persistent anticyclonic storm on the planet
   Jupiter, 22° south of the equator, which has lasted at least 340 years.
   The storm is large enough to be visible through Earth-based telescopes.
   It was probably first observed by Cassini, who described it around
   1665.

   This dramatic view of Jupiter's Great Red Spot and its surroundings was
   obtained by Voyager 1 on February 25, 1979, when the spacecraft was 9.2
   million km (5.7 million miles) from Jupiter. Cloud details as small as
   160 km (100 miles) across can be seen here. The colorful, wavy cloud
   pattern to the left of the Red Spot is a region of extraordinarily
   complex and variable wave motion. To give a sense of Jupiter's scale,
   the white oval storm directly below the Great Red Spot is approximately
   the same diameter as Earth.

   The oval object rotates counterclockwise, with a period of about 6
   days. The Great Red Spot's dimensions are 24–40,000 km × 12–14,000 km.
   It is large enough to contain two or three planets of Earth size. The
   cloudtops of this storm are about 8 km above the surrounding cloudtops.

   Storms such as this are not uncommon within the turbulent atmospheres
   of gas giants. Jupiter also has white ovals and brown ovals, which are
   lesser unnamed storms. White ovals tend to consist of relatively cool
   clouds within the upper atmosphere. Brown ovals are warmer and located
   within the "normal cloud layer". Such storms can last hours or
   centuries.

   Before the Voyager missions, astronomers were highly uncertain of its
   nature. Many believed it to be a solid or liquid feature on Jupiter's
   surface.

Convergence

   As of June 5, 2006, the NASA Science website reported that the Great
   Red Spot and Oval BA might converge. The storms pass each other about
   every two years, the passings of 2002 and 2004 did not produce anything
   exciting. But Dr. Amy Simon-Miller, of the Goddard Space Flight Centre,
   predicted the storms would have their closest passing on July 4.
   Simon-Miller had been working with Dr. Imke de Pater and Dr. Phil
   Marcus of UC Berkeley, and a team of professional astronomers since
   April, studying the storms using the Hubble Space Telescope. On July
   20, the two storms were photographed passing each other by the Gemini
   Observatory. No convergence occurred.

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