jupiter's great red spot

[nokhor]

anybody know the mechanism behind why that storm keeps going? its centuries old right? didn't galileo discover it? is it because it has pretty much unlimited fuel in the jovian atmosphere with nothing to break it apart? and is there a projected life time for the storm somewhere?

[IliaDN]

What storm exactly?

[swirly_the_toilet_fish]

All I know is it is large enough to contain the masses of thirty earths. Maybe because Jupiter is so large, it is an adolescent planet and the big red spot is just a sign of Jupiter "becoming a little man."

Kidding of course. I'm not certain why it apparently is a limitless storm but would be nice to learn.

[Oaty]

From my understanding it's a bit like a hurricane, but with different elements propelling the storm and it also moves. Have no idea how far it's moved or if it goes back and forth.

Also the outer gases are still showing scars from meteors that hit the planet 10-30 years ago. A tad strange considering it's all gases on the outer layer and still show sigms of impact.

[Big_John]

if i remember my comparative planetology classes, it's basically because there are no landmasses (i.e. friction) to absorb the energy of the storms. storms like that should form on all of the gas giants, from time to time. i think the massive amount of radiative energy that jupiter generates helps drive the storms too.

[nokhor]

What storm exactly?

the great red spot is one gigantic storm.

[swirly_the_toilet_fish]

While Jupiter is the best known example of the endless hurricane-like storms, one also exists on Neptune. From studying the rotation winds in the pictures taken of the dark blue(i think, been a while), I remember the winds were supposed to measure around 600+ km per hour(maybe minute or second). I really think I should have looked over a book or site before posting.

Either way, if anyone out there can correct me, please do so.

[Ironside]

While Jupiter is the best known example of the endless hurricane-like storms, one also exists on Neptune. From studying the rotation winds in the pictures taken of the dark blue(i think, been a while), I remember the winds were supposed to measure around 600+ km per hour(maybe minute or second). I really think I should have looked over a book or site before posting.

Either way, if anyone out there can correct me, please do so.

I can confirm that it blows worse on Neptune than on Jupiter. BTW it's Uranus top speed you're quoting, Neptune's top speed is 2000 km/hour.

if i remember my comparative planetology classes, it's basically because there are no landmasses (i.e. friction) to absorb the energy of the storms. storms like that should form on all of the gas giants, from time to time. i think the massive amount of radiative energy that jupiter generates helps drive the storms too.

I think the current theory is that, the furter from sun you are the less turbolence it becomes that can slow the winds down. IIRC it's the rotation that creates the energy to the winds in the first place.

[swirly_the_toilet_fish]

Yes. Then isn't it true that most gas gaints planetary rotations are fractions of our own? If I remember reading(which I rarely do ) then most of the gaseous planets' days are fractional to our own.

Again, please correct me if I'm wrong. Bleh. Currently I am learning more through the Org than in university. Pathetic, I know.

[Oaty]

if i remember my comparative planetology classes, it's basically because there are no landmasses (i.e. friction) to absorb the energy of the storms. storms like that should form on all of the gas giants, from time to time. i think the massive amount of radiative energy that jupiter generates helps drive the storms too.

Jupiter isn't all gas. The atmosphere may be so thick that the land mass has little effect on the storm. Anyways there was a probe that was sent there and it got to spend a whole minute on the ground, before the atmospheric conditions fried the probe.

[Taurus]

Whatever keeps it going there is no denying that it is cool.

[Big_John]

Jupiter isn't all gas. The atmosphere may be so thick that the land mass has little effect on the storm. Anyways there was a probe that was sent there and it got to spend a whole minute on the ground, before the atmospheric conditions fried the probe.

i did not say jupiter was all gas, i said that it lacked landmasses, which it does. underneath the miles and miles of clouds, there's a liquid hydrogen ocean, and under that there's a liquid metallic hydrogen layer. the core is some combination of iron/rock.

in any case, yes, even if jupiter had 'landmasses' on the hydrogen oceans, they would be too far below the coulds to have much of an effect on the storms (depending on their relief, of course).

btw, what probe are you talking about? jupiter has no surface to sit on. and there's no way the galileo probe got down to the hydrogen ocean.. it would have succumb to the pressure, heat, and radiation before that.

Yes. Then isn't it true that most gas gaints planetary rotations are fractions of our own? If I remember reading(which I rarely do ) then most of the gaseous planets' days are fractional to our own.

Again, please correct me if I'm wrong. Bleh. Currently I am learning more through the Org than in university. Pathetic, I know.

i'm not sure about the correlation between distance from the sun and rotational speed, but the gas giants do have shorter days than earth. jupiter and saturn are about 10 hours, neptune and uranus are around 15 hours, iirc. pluto's is quite a bit longer though, like 7 days or something.

[Viking]

While Jupiter is the best known example of the endless hurricane-like storms, one also exists on Neptune.

That one died out for quite some years ago.