TheSilver LiningFades

sciencesoup:

And The Storm Rages On

Jupiter’s most famous feature is the Great Red Spot in its southern hemisphere, which is actually a vast storm that has been raging for at least 400 years. The Red Spot spins in a counter-clockwise direction and is a high-pressure system, with winds at the edges reaching speeds of 432 km/h, but inside the storm, winds are more stagnant. Infrared data suggests that the spot is colder than other Jovian clouds—but the core is apparently 3–4 degrees warmer than the average  -160 degrees Celsius, spins weakly in the opposite direction, and glows redder. The Spot was named in 1878 when the storm was mostly all vivid red and covered 40,000 km of the planet’s surface, but recently it has faded to an orange-tan and is shrinking—but it’s still large enough to engulf three earths. No one knows whether the storm is coming to an end or whether the changes are just the result of normal fluctuations—it could rage on for centuries yet.