Posted by Davin Flateau on 6 Mar 2006 at 11:24 am.
Filed under Astronomy.
Many people know about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot, the huge atmospheric storm three times the size of the Earth that’s been churning away for at least 300 years. Astronomers report that the planet’s cauldron of gasses has recently produced another red spot not far from the first. The new superstorm is officially called “Oval BA” but has been nicknamed “Red Jr.” by at least one NASA astronomer. It’s about half the size of the GRS, and just about the same color. The great thing is that you can see it with a decent backyard telescope!
Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system, large enough so that you could fit over 1000 of our dinky Earths inside of it. It’s a collection of gases, mostly hydrogen and helium, that gets compressed deep inside to liquid, and even further down, forming exotic metallic hydrogen.
Scientists don’t know exactly what causes storms like the Great Red Spot to continue to live for hundreds of years - in fact we don’t know how long it’s been there. We wouldn’t know what Jupiter would look like without it, since its been there as long as humans have been looking at Jupiter.
We’ve seen thousands of smaller storms pop up, scoot along the high-velocity horizontal jet streams in Jupiter’s atmosphere, only to disintegrate, much like our hurricanes here on Earth do. But Oval BA has been sticking around like the GRS - it’s been cruising around Jupiter for 6 years now. It was formed in 2000 when three “smaller” storms (and by smaller, I mean only half the size of our planet) collided to form this permanent Jovian junior uber-tsunami.
But it’s only recently this storm has turned the crimson color of its larger cousin. If it’s redder, does that mean it’s angrier? You wouldn’t be too far off. NASA:
Oval BA may have strengthened enough to do the same. Like the Great Red Spot, Red Jr. may be lifting material above the clouds where solar ultraviolet rays turn “chromophores” (color-changing compounds) red. If so, the deepening red is a sign that the storm is intensifying.
“Some of Jupiter’s white ovals have appeared slightly reddish before, for example in late 1999, but not often and not for long,” says Dr. John Rogers, author of the book “Jupiter: The Giant Planet,” which recounts telescopic observations of Jupiter for the last 100+ years. “It will indeed be interesting to see if Oval BA becomes permanently red.”
So find a neighbor’s telescope, or head out to Lake Afton one of these nights to see our newest superstorm. The hurricane season here in the Americas winding up, and it’ll be fascinating to watch these planet-sized storms from the safe distance of 456 million miles.
