Jupiter is known for the gigantic red spot present on its surface. A spot behind which hides a huge storm, a larger storm on Earth and which has been observed for over 150 years.
This red spot intrigued many researchers. So much so that NASA is using Hubble to closely monitor its progress. However, the American space agency has identified an important change.
Jupiter, as you probably already know, is the largest planet in the solar system. At least in the current state of our knowledge.
Jupiter’s Great Red Spot
With an area of 61.42 billion square kilometers, it extends over a radius of 69,911 kilometers. The Earth next to it is a featherweight with an area of only 510.1 million square kilometers and a radius of 6,371 kilometers.
But the gas giant has another interesting feature: the Great Red Spot.
The latter is not a simple coquetry. The observations carried out in recent decades have indeed made it possible to determine that this spot was in fact a high pressure storm extending over approximately 40,000 kilometers in length and 12,000 kilometers in width.
A truly immense storm, therefore, and which would be perfectly able to contain on its own two or three planets the size of our world.
Still thanks to observations made by astronomers, we were also able to determine that the winds around the spot were blowing at more than 400 km / h.
An acceleration of around 8%
And precisely, thanks to Hubble, NASA was able to confirm that the average wind speed of the red spot tended to increase. And be careful, because we are not talking about a minor increase.
Between 2009 and 2020, in just 11 years, the wind speed at the edge of the task increased by 8%.
Contrary to what one might think, identifying this increase was not easy. NASA does not have any instruments on site and is therefore not able to continuously measure the speed of the winds on the surface of the planet. The only solution is therefore to rely on space telescopes sensitive enough to be able to capture the speed of the winds, which is the case with Hubble.
However, the agency is not yet able to explain the causes of this increased speed. Indeed, the storm is so violent that it does not allow us to see what is happening under the highest clouds of the gas giant. The Great Red Spot is therefore still far from revealing all its mysteries.
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I am a technology author with 8 years of experience in journalism. My writing covers the latest technology advancements and trends, drawing on my expertise in news journalism and social media platforms. I have contributed to major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Reuters.
