According to astronomers, surprising observations made by Hubble over more than 90 days from December last year to March this year indicate that the Great Red Spot is not as stable as it appears.
The Great Red Spot is an anticyclonic storm or massive wind current in Jupiter’s atmosphere, swirling around a high-pressure region at the center along the planet’s southern mid-latitude cloud band. This long-lasting storm is the largest in the Solar System and could fit Earth inside it.
Changes in the Great Red Spot on Jupiter. (Image: NASA/ESA/Amy Simon).
Although storms are often thought to be unstable, the Great Red Spot has lasted for nearly two centuries. However, observable changes in the storm seem to be related to its movement and size.
Time-lapse images have shown that this storm vortex “wobbles” like jelly and expands and contracts over time. Researchers described this observation in an analysis published in the Planetary Science Journal.
“While we knew its movement varied slightly in longitude, we did not expect its size to fluctuate as well. As far as we know, this has never been observed before,” said study lead Amy Simon, a planetary scientist at NASA.
Astronomers have observed this deep red feature on Jupiter for at least 150 years, and sometimes these observations lead to surprises, including the latest revelation that the oval shape of the storm can change in size, sometimes appearing thinner or fatter.
Recently, a team of astronomers looked into the center of the Great Red Spot using the James Webb Telescope to capture new details in infrared light. Hubble’s observations were conducted using visible and ultraviolet light.
Co-author of the study, Leigh Fletcher, a professor of planetary science at the University of Leicester in the UK, stated: “For limited instruments, Jupiter’s striped clouds and famous red storm seem static, stable, and long-lasting over the years. But with closer observation, we will see incredible variability, with chaotic weather patterns as complex as anything we have on Earth. Planetary scientists have worked for years to examine patterns in this variability; anything can help us grasp the physical foundations in this complex system.”
The insights gathered from observing the largest storms in our Solar System could help scientists understand what weather might be like on exoplanets orbiting other stars. That knowledge could broaden scientists’ understanding of meteorological processes beyond what we experience on Earth.
