Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system is the subject of fascination for us humans. It has been continuously observed and studied since 1878. However, the winds on Jupiter are faster than ever and scientists don’t know why.
What’s up with the winds on Jupiter?
The gas giant has a storm raging in its gaseous clouds known as the great red spot. However, this is no normal storm. The storm is greater than the size of Earth and it is the largest storm in the entire solar system. A new study reveals that the Giant Red Spot is speeding up.
The study is based on data collected by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2009 and 2020. It revealed that the speed of winds on Jupiter increased by eight percent. The speed seems like a small increase but, it is very significant. However, scientists don’t know the reason behind this sudden speed of the winds on Jupiter. “When I initially saw the results, I asked ‘Does this make sense?’ No one has ever seen this before. But this is something only Hubble can do. Hubble’s longevity and ongoing observations make this revelation possible,” said Michael Wong from the University of California, Berkeley. Wong is also the lead investigator of the study.
More on Jupiter’s great storm
“Since we don’t have a storm chaser plane at Jupiter, we can’t continuously measure the winds on-site,” said Amy Simon from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We’re talking about such a small change that if you didn’t have eleven years of Hubble data, we wouldn’t know it happened. With Hubble we have the precision we need to spot a trend,” added Simon.
The clouds close to the storm’s edge are moving anti-clockwise and clocking almost 640 kilometers per hour. To add to the mystery, the Great Red Spot is shrinking in size. Data on the storm’s size since 1878 shows that the storm has become smaller. It also exposes that the shape of the storm changed over time. Unlike that of the past, the storm is more circular now.