© NASA, ESA, Michael H. Wong (UC Berkeley)
By analyzing images taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope from 2009 to 2020, researchers found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the Great Red Spot, set off by the outer green circle, have increased by up to 8 percent from 2009 to 2020 and exceed 400 miles per hour. In contrast, the winds near the storm's innermost region, set off by a smaller green ring, are moving significantly more slowly. Both move counterclockwise.
Like the speed of an advancing race car driver, the winds in the outermost "lane" of
Jupiter's Great Red Spot are accelerating - a discovery only made possible by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, which has monitored the planet for more than a decade.
Researchers analyzing Hubble's regular "storm reports" found that the average wind speed just within the boundaries of the storm, known as a high-speed ring, has increased by up to 8 percent from 2009 to 2020. In contrast, the winds near the red spot's innermost region are moving significantly more slowly, like someone cruising lazily on a sunny Sunday afternoon.
The massive storm's crimson-colored clouds spin counterclockwise at speeds that exceed 400 miles per hour - and the vortex is bigger than Earth itself. The red spot is legendary in part because humans have observed it for more than 150 years.
"When I initially saw the results, I asked 'Does this make sense?' No one has ever seen this before," said Michael Wong of the University of California, Berkeley, who led the
analysis published today in
Geophysical Research Letters. "But this is something only Hubble can do. Hubble's longevity and ongoing observations make this revelation possible."
Comment: The unusual outbursts of Comet 29P is just the latest in a flurry of out of the ordinary phenomena and stunning discoveries documented of late:
- Megacomet Bernardinelli-Bernstein is the find of a decade, here's why
- Ozone hole above Antarctica is one of the largest ever, it's still growing, and may be linked to the COOLING stratosphere
- Enigmatic ancient brown dwarf discovered in solar neighborhood suggests more 'accidents' may be lurking in our galaxy - NASA
- Massive, mysterious filament structure extending around the Milky Way's edge discovered
- Cosmic climate change: 'Space plasma hurricane' observed in ionosphere above North Pole!
- 100 previously catalogued stars just vanished!
- Betelgeuse is neither as far nor as large as once thought
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