NASA - The Great Dark Spot The Great Dark Spot The Cassini spacecraft has photographed an extraordinary dark cloud on Jupiter twice as big as Earth itself. Listen to this story via streaming audio , a downloadable file , or get help . March 12, 2003: For more than a century astronomers thought that the Great Red Spot was the biggest thing on Jupiter. Not anymore. Images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft have revealed something at least as large. The Great Dark Spot. "I was totally blown away when I saw it -- a dark cloud twice as big as Earth swirling around Jupiter's north pole," says Bob West, a planetary scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Right: This composite of Cassini ultra-violet (UV) images reveals the "Great Dark Spot" swirling near Jupiter's north pole. Jupiter's auroral zone is denoted by the blue curve. [ more ] West has been chasing this cloud for some time. He first saw it -- "just a glimpse," says West -- in an ultraviolet (UV) picture of Jupiter taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 1997. But it only appeared in one image out of many spanning a period of years.

"I didn't know what to make of it," he recalls. Now he knows. "The Cassini spacecraft was en route to Saturn in 2000 when it passed by Jupiter and had a good view of the planet's north pole," says West. "At first there was nothing unusual -- just ordinary polar clouds. Then the Dark Spot emerged." For weeks Cassini's UV-sensitive cameras watched as the cloud grew into an oval the size of the Great Red Spot itself. It swirled, darkened and changed shape until, as Cassini was departing, it began to fade again. (See the entire movie .) "The Dark Spot is ephemeral," says West. That's probably why Hubble saw it only once. And if Cassini had arrived a month or two later, it might not have seen the Dark Spot at all. Instead, Cassini's cameras monitored the cloud for 11 straight weeks, and those data have allowed West to draw some conclusions: "The Great Dark Spot and the Great Red Spot are entirely different," he says. The Great Red Spot is deep. "It's a high-pressure storm system rooted in Jupiter's troposphere far below the cloudtops.

The Great Dark Spot is apparently shallow and confined to Jupiter's high stratosphere." Left: The Great Red Spot is a long-lasting storm rooted deep in Jupiter's atmosphere. [ more ] West believes the Dark Spot is a curious side-effect of auroras on Jupiter. "Jupiter has Northern Lights just as Earth does, although on Jupiter they are hundreds to thousands of times more powerful," says West. Auroras happen when electrons and ions rain down on the polar atmosphere and cause the air to glow where they hit. Here on Earth, auroras are usually sparked by solar wind gusts. The solar wind can also trigger auroras on Jupiter, but it's not necessary; on Jupiter the planet itself energizes Northern Lights. "Jupiter's magnetic field is a huge reservoir of charged particles," explains West. "These particles are accelerated poleward by the 11-hour rotation of Jupiter and its magnetic field. Thus, auroras on Jupiter are almost always active." "High-energy electrons that hit Jupiter's atmosphere not only cause auroras, but also break apart methane (CH4), which is more abundant on Jupiter than it is on Earth," says West. "Fragments of methane molecules combine with ambient hydrogen to form acetylene C2H2.

That's the basic building block. Acetylene combines with other carbon- and hydrogen-containing molecules to build even more complex molecules, which eventually condense into dark droplets." Above: A Hubble Space Telescope image of Northern Lights on Jupiter. [ more ] If West is right, the Great Dark Spot is a haze of hydrocarbon-rich droplets floating in the uppermost layers of Jupiter's stratosphere. Such a haze would be prominent in UV images because hydrocarbon droplets are strong absorbers of UV radiation. Indeed, the Great Dark Spot is invisible to the human eye. "It can only be seen in UV light." His idea fits the facts, but West remains puzzled: "There was no strong auroral display when the Great Dark Spot intensified in late 2000. What caused it to appear when Cassini was flying by? We don't know. This shows us that Jupiter's stratosphere is a more interesting place than we once thought." Furthermore, it can teach us something about our own planet.

West explains: "This dark spot is trapped by a polar vortex -- a jet stream that encircles Jupiter's north pole." Fast-moving winds in the vortex act like an atmospheric wall, keeping the Dark Spot corralled at high latitudes. Similar vortices encircle Earth's polar regions. Our planet's Arctic vortex is disrupted somewhat by northern land masses, but the Antarctic vortex is better organized. It plays a key role in confining the ozone hole -- much as Jupiter's polar vortex confines the Great Dark Spot. Right: Earth's south polar ozone hole. [ more ] "Monitoring the Dark Spot could help us understand how planetary vortices work." For such studies, two planets are clearly better than one. Meanwhile, West would be delighted just to see the Dark Spot again. "It's elusive," he says. But he's ready to be blown away ... any time. Why Jupiter's Great Red Spot Has Lasted So Long Why Jupiter's Great Red Spot Has Lasted So Long By Charles Q. Choi , SPACE.com Contributor | November 25, 2013 07:01am ET MORE Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot as seen by a Voyager spacecraft.

Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The mystery of why Jupiter's Great Red Spot did not vanish centuries ago may now be solved, and the findings could help reveal more clues about the vortices in Earth's oceans and the nurseries of stars and planets, researchers say. The Great Red Spot is the most noticeable feature on Jupiter's surface — a storm about 12,400 miles (20,000 kilometers) long and 7,500 miles (12,000 km) wide, about two to three times larger than Earth. Winds at its oval edges can reach up to 425 mph (680 km/h). This giant storm was first recorded in 1831 but may have first been discovered in 1665. "Based on current theories, the Great Red Spot should have disappeared after several decades," researcher Pedram Hassanzadeh, a geophysical fluid dynamicist at Harvard University,said in a statement. "Instead, it has been there for hundreds of years." [ Photos: Most Powerful Storms in the Solar System ] Vortices like the Great Red Spot can dissipate because of many factors.

For instance, waves and turbulence in and around the storm sap its winds of energy. It also loses energy by radiating heat. Moreover, the Great Red Spot rests between two powerful jet streams in Jupiter's atmosphere that flow in opposite directions and may slow down its spinning. Some researchers suggest that large vortices such as the Great Red Spot gain energy and survive by absorbing smaller vortices . However, "this does not happen often enough to explain the Red Spot's longevity," researcher Philip Marcus, a fluid dynamicist and planetary scientist at the University of California, Berkeley,said in a statement. Jupiter, the giant of our solar system, is as fascinating as it is photogenic. How much do you know about the king of the planets? Start Over | More Quizzes The Great Red Spot is not the only mysterious vortex. In fact, vortices in general, including ones in Earth's oceans and atmosphere, often live much longer than current theories can explain. To help solve the mystery of the Great Red Spot's endurance, Hassanzadeh and Marcus developed a new 3D, high-resolution computer model of large vortices. Models of vortices generally focus on swirling horizontal winds, where most of the energy resides.

Although vortices also have vertical flows, these have much less energy. Therefore, "in the past, most researchers either ignored the vertical flow because they thought it was not important, or they used simpler equations because it was so difficult to model," Hassanzadeh said. The researchers now find that vertical flows hold the key to the Great Red Spot's longevity: When the storm loses energy, vertical flows move hot and cold gases in and out of the storm, restoring part of the vortex's energy. Their model also predicts radial flows that suck winds from the high-speed jet streams around the Great Red Spot toward the storm's center, helping it last longer. Together, vortices — whether on Jupiter or in Earth's oceans — may decay up to 100 times slower than researchers previously thought. "Some vortices in the oceans have been observed to last for several years and are believed to play an important role in the oceanic ecosystem and ocean-atmosphere interaction," Marcustold SPACE.com. In addition, "vortices with physics very similar to the Great Red Spot are believed to contribute to star and planet formation processes, which would require them to last for several million years.

Both oceanic and astrophysical vortices are subjected to dissipating processes, and the mechanism described here for the longevity of the Great Red Spot presents a very plausible explanation for their longevity as well." The scientists caution that their model does not entirely explain the Great Red Spot's long life span. They suggest that occasional mergers with smaller vortices may help prolong the giant storm's life as well, and have begun modifying their computer model to test this idea. In addition, their "current model does not account for compressibility of the flow or sphericity of the planet," Hassanzadeh told SPACE.com. "Although we believe that these effects do not change the conclusions of our work, we are planning to modify our model in the next step and include these effects." The scientists will detail their findings Nov. 25 at the annual meeting of the American Physical Society's Division of Fluid Dynamics in Pittsburgh. Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on SPACE.com .

Editor's Recommendations Jupiter's Great Red Spot - Universe Today Universe Today Jupiter’s Great Red Spot Article Updated: 24 Dec , 2015 by Jerry Coffey Jupiter’s Great Red Spot(GRS) is an atmospheric storm that has been raging in Jupiter’s southern Hemisphere for at least 400 years. Many believe that Giovanni Cassini was the first to observe it in the late 1600s, but scientists doubt that it had just formed at that time. About 100 years ago, the storm covered over 40,000 km of the surface. It is currently about one half of that size and seems to be shrinking. At the present rate that it is shrinking it could become circular by 2040. Scientists doubt that this will happen because of the distortion effect of neighboring jet streams. It is not known how long the spot will last, or whether the changes in size are a result of normal fluctuations The GRS rotates counter-clockwise(anti-cyclonic) and makes a full rotation every six Earth days. The rotation period of the spot has decreased. Some believe that it is a result of its shrinking.

Winds at the very edges of the storm gust to 432 km/h, but inside the storm winds seem to be somewhat stagnant with no inflow nor outflow. The spot is large enough to engulf three Earths. Infrared data indicates that the GRS is colder and at a higher altitude than most of the other clouds on Jupiter. The cloudtops of the GRS are about 8 km above the surrounding clouds. The spot is prevented from moving north and south across the planet by an eastward jetstream to its south and a very strong westward jetstream to its north. Its position moving east and west changes quite frequently. The spot has “lapped” the planet at least 10 times since the early 19th century. Its drift rate has changed dramatically over the years and has been linked to the brightness of the South Equatorial Belt, and the presence or absence of a South Tropical Disturbance. It is not known exactly what causes the Great Red Spot’s reddish color. The most popular theory, which is supported by laboratory experiments, holds that the color may be caused by complex organic molecules, red phosphorus, or other sulfur compounds.

The GRS varies greatly in hue, from almost brick-red to pale salmon, and white. The reddest central region is 4 K warmer than the surroundings, which is thought to be evidence that the color is affected by environmental factors. At times, the spot disappears from the visible spectrum and can only be seen as the Red Spot Hollow, which is area it occupies in the South Equatorial Belt(SEB). The visibility of the GRS seems to coupled to the appearance of the SEB. When the SEB is bright white, the GRS is dark and when the SEB is dark, the spot is usually light. The periods when the spot is dark or light occur at unpredictable intervals. As you can see, Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is a subject of a great deal of study. Scientist hope that by fully understanding it, they will be able to better understand our giant neighbor. Here’s an article on Universe Today about Red Spot Jr , and the possibility that Jupiter’s spots are disappearing . Astronomy Picture of the Day has a great image and write up of the Great Red Spot, and here’s an image from NASA/ We’ve also recorded an entire show just on Jupiter for Astronomy Cast.

Listen to it here, Episode 56: Jupiter , and Episode 57: Jupiter’s Moons . Sources: Jupiter's New Red Spot | Science Mission Directorate Science Mission Directorate + Play Audio | + Download Audio | + Historia en Español | + Join mailing list March 3, 2006: Backyard astronomers, grab your telescopes. Jupiter is growing a new red spot. Christopher Go of the Philippines photographed it on February 27th using an 11-inch telescope and a CCD camera: Above: Red spots on Jupiter, photographed by amateur astronomer Christopher Go on Feb. 27, 2006. [ Larger image ] The official name of this storm is "Oval BA," but "Red Jr." might be better. It's about half the size of the famous Great Red Spot and almost exactly the same color. Oval BA first appeared in the year 2000 when three smaller spots collided and merged. Using Hubble and other telescopes, astronomers watched with great interest. A similar merger centuries ago may have created the original Great Red Spot, a storm twice as wide as our planet and at least 300 years old.

Sign up for EXPRESS SCIENCE NEWS delivery At first, Oval BA remained white—the same color as the storms that combined to create it. But in recent months, things began to change: "The oval was white in November 2005, it slowly turned brown in December 2005, and red a few weeks ago," reports Go. "Now it is the same color as the Great Red Spot!" "Wow!" says Dr. Glenn Orton, an astronomer at JPL who specializes in studies of storms on Jupiter and other giant planets. "This is convincing. We've been monitoring Jupiter for years to see if Oval BA would turn red—and it finally seems to be happening." (Red Jr? Orton prefers "the not-so-Great Red Spot.") Why red? Curiously, no one knows precisely why the Great Red Spot itself is red. A favorite idea is that the storm dredges material from deep beneath Jupiter's cloudtops and lifts it to high altitudes where solar ultraviolet radiation--via some unknown chemical reaction—produces the familiar brick color. "The Great Red Spot is the most powerful storm on Jupiter, indeed, in the whole solar system," says Orton.

The top of the storm rises 8 km above surrounding clouds. "It takes a powerful storm to lift material so high," he adds. Above: Hubble images detail the birth of oval BA in 1997-2000. [ More ] Oval BA may have strengthened enough to do the same. Like the Great Red Spot, Red Jr. may be lifting material above the clouds where solar ultraviolet rays turn "chromophores" (color-changing compounds) red. If so, the deepening red is a sign that the storm is intensifying. "Some of Jupiter's white ovals have appeared slightly reddish before, for example in late 1999, but not often and not for long," says Dr. John Rogers, author of the book "Jupiter: The Giant Planet," which recounts telescopic observations of Jupiter for the last 100+ years. "It will indeed be interesting to see if Oval BA becomes permanently red." See for yourself: Jupiter is easy to find in the dawn sky. Step outside before sunrise, look south and up: . Jupiter outshines everything around it. Small telescopes have no trouble making out Jupiter's cloudbelts and its four largest moons.

Telescopes 10-inches or larger with CCD cameras should be able to track Red Jr. with ease. What's next? Will Red Jr. remain red? Will it grow or subside? Stay tuned for updates. Jupiter - Astronomy For Kids - KidsAstronomy.com ASTRONOMY FOR KIDS Try Miamiopia, Our New Free Educational Virtual World Jupiter means: Jupiter, known as Zeus in Greek mythology, over threw his father Saturn to become king of the gods. He then split the universe with his brothers Neptune and Pluto. How much would you weigh on Jupiter? If you traveled to Jupiter on vacation, you would be very heavy. If you weigh 70 pounds (32 kg) on Earth, on Jupiter you would weigh 185 pounds (84 kg). This is because Jupiter is such a large planet and so has more gravity. The Planet Jupiter is by far the largest planet in our Solar System. The Earth could fit inside Jupiter more than 1000 times. Jupiter is a very stormy planet. There are storms found throughout the atmosphere, and most of the storms seem to never end. The many different cloud formations and storms in the atmosphere also make Jupiter a very colorful planet.

Jupiter's great red spot, visible in the picture above to the right, is where a giant storm has been raging for at least 300 years. This red spot is also called "The Eye of Jupiter" because of its shape. This storm's super hurricane winds blow across an area larger than the Earth. Jupiter is considered a gas giant because it does not have a solid surface. Under its atmosphere is a large liquid ocean of hydrogen and water. What lies in between that ocean and the atmosphere? Actually, there is no in between. The atmosphere slowly gets thicker and thicker until it becomes part of the ocean. In other words, Jupiter's ocean has no surface on which you could float a boat. The sky becomes the ocean. Rings Did you know Jupiter has rings? They are faint and are only able to be viewed when Jupiter passes in front of the Sun. This is because the light from the Sun lights them up for us to see here on Earth. There are three rings in all. They are named Gossamer, Main and Halo. Moons: Jupiter has 50 official moons and 12 provisional (unofficial) moons.

The four largest and most well-known were discovered by Galileo in the year 1610. Their names are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. Some of the other moons are Adrastea, Ananke, Carme, Elara, Himalia, Leda, Lysithea, Metis, Pasiphae, Sinope, and Thebe. To learn about these worlds Click Here . You can see four of Jupiter's moons With a pair of binoculars at night. Also, Jupiter spins really fast; it only takes 10 hours to go from night to day on Jupiter. For this reason, its middle has been stretched out. Rather than round it is short and fat. Kind of like when someone spins pizza dough really fast to stretch it out. This planet shape is called an oblate spheroid. The Totally Free Children's Learning Network Educational Games Why Does Jupiter Have the Great Red Spot? - Universe Today Universe Today Why Does Jupiter Have the Great Red Spot? Article Updated: 26 Apr , 2016 by Jerry Coffey Frequently, readers send us questions here on Universe Today.

One very good question is ”why does Jupiter have the Great Red Spot?” The short answer is that the Great Red Spot is a storm that has been raging since the 1600s, but a short answer does not tell the whole story. Read on for a much more detailed accounting. The Great Red Spot (GRS) is an anti-cyclonic(rotates counter-clockwise) storm that is located 22° south of Jupiter’s equator. The storm has lasted an estimated 346 years, but many scientists believe that it is much older. The storm is known to have been larger than 40,000 km in diameter at one time and can be easily seen with large backyard telescopes. Currently it measures approximately 24–40,000 km east–to–west and 12–14,000 km north–to–south. The GRS is large enough to envelope two to three Earths. Despite the GRS’s enormous size, it is shrinking. In 2004, it had about half the longitudinal size that it had a century ago.

Some scientist estimate that if it continues to shrink at its current rate, it could become circular by 2040. A study by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley showed that the GRS lost 15 percent of its diameter along its major axis between 1996 and 2006. Xylar Asay-Davis, a team member on the study, noted that the spot is not disappearing because ”[v]elocity is a more robust measurement because the clouds associated with the Red Spot are also strongly influenced by numerous other phenomena in the surrounding atmosphere.” Infrared data indicates that the GRS is colder and located at a higher altitude than most of Jupiter’s other clouds. The cloudtops of the GRS are about 8 km above the surrounding clouds. The storm is held in place by an eastward jetstream to its south and a very strong westward jetstream to its north. Winds around the edge of the GRS peak at 432 km/h, but winds within the storm seem to nearly none existent, with little inflow or outflow.

In 2010, astronomers imaged the GRS in the far infrared and found that its central(reddest) region is warmer than its surroundings by about 4 K. The warm airmass is located in the upper troposphere. This warm central spot slowly rotates in the opposite direction of the remainder of the storm and could be a remnant of air flow in the center. Alright, so why is the storm red? The exact cause of the coloring has not been proven, but…lab experiments support the theory that the color is caused by complex organic molecules, red phosphorus, or another sulfur compound that are pulled from deeper within Jupiter. The color of the GRS varies. At times it is brick-red, fading to a pale salmon, and even white. The spot occasionally disappears from the visible spectrum and can only be seen as the Red Spot Hollow; its niche in the South Equatorial Belt(SEB). The visibility of GRS is apparently coupled to the appearance of the SEB. If the SEB is bright white, the spot tends to be dark. When it is dark, the GRS is usually light. The periods that the color changes last and occur on an unpredictable schedule.

As you can see, the answer to ”why does Jupiter have the Great Red Spot?” has been well researched by NASA and other space agencies. While the answer is not crystal clear at this time, future missions to the planet are designed to better study the atmosphere; hopefully, rendering the answers scientists seek. We have written many articles about Jupiter for Universe Today. Here are some interesting facts about Jupiter , and here’s an article about the color of Jupiter . If you’d like more information on Jupiter, check out Hubblesite’s News Releases about Jupiter, and here’s a link to NASA’s Solar System Exploration Guide to Jupiter . We’ve also recorded an episode of Astronomy Cast just about Jupiter. Listen here, Episode 56: Jupiter . Sources: How to Observe Jupiter: 12 Steps (with Pictures) - wikiHow Getting Equipped 1 Get a sky map. Before you start looking for Jupiter, you should get hold of a sky map which can show you where in the sky to start looking. For more advanced astronomers, there are numerous sophisticated maps of the sky which show the position and trajectory of the planets.

For those inexperienced in reading these paper maps there are a number of smart phone apps which you can download which will help you to find Jupiter and the other planets and stars in the sky. With some smartphone apps all that you have to do is hold the phone up to the sky and it will identify the stars and planets for you. 2 Ready some binoculars. Jupiter is so massive and bright in the sky that it can be viewed with a good pair of binoculars. Binoculars that magnify seven times human eyesight will be effective and will reveal Jupiter as a small white disk in the sky. [1] If you don’t know what strength your binoculars are look at numbers on the side, if it says 7x another number then they magnify seven times and will enable to observe Jupiter. 3 Get a telescope. To really get a good view of the Jupiter’s spectacular features, your observations will be improved with even an entry-level telescope. This equipment will help you to see Jupiter’s famous belts, all four of its moons, and potentially even the Great Red Spot. The range of telescopes available is huge, but for beginners a 60 or 70mm refractor telescope is a good place to start.

[2] The performance of your telescope will drop if the optics are not sufficiently cooled. Keep it in a relatively cool place, and before you want to start viewing place it outside so its temperature can drop before you begin. [3] Part 2 Preparing for your Observation 1 Get to know good seeing conditions. You can save time and avoid fruitless hours by learning to identify good viewing conditions quickly. Before setting up the telescope take a look at the stars. Ask yourself if the stars are twinkling brightly through the sky. If so, this suggests that there is a turbulent atmosphere. Such conditions make planet observation more difficult, instead you want calm night-sky. In a steady night with good seeing conditions, the sky might appear somewhat hazy. [4] The Association of Lunar and Planetary Observers (ALPO) has a scale for seeing conditions which goes from 0 to 10. If the conditions score lower than a 5, your chances of a good observation are very slim. [5] 2 Find the right time of the day or night. The best time to observe planets is at night, but Jupiter is so bright that it can sometimes be seen shortly after dusk, and shortly before dawn.

At dusk it will rise in the east, but as night goes on Jupiter will appear to travel westwards through the sky. At mid-northern latitudes it will set in the west a little before the sun rises in the east each morning. [6] 3 Pick your spot and be ready to wait. Be sure to set yourself up in a good place where it is dark and quiet so you can concentrate on your planet gazing. Your backyard is perfect, but remember that observing planets can be a slow and engrossing business, so be sure to wrap up warm and be prepared for a lengthy wait. If you are planning on documenting your observation have any materials with you so you don’t have to leave your observation post. Part 3 Observing Jupiter 1 Find Jupiter with binoculars. Find a comfortable and steady position and if possible mount your binoculars on a camera tripod, or something else steady and fixed so they won’t shake as you use them. With the binoculars you should be able to see Jupiter as a white disk. You may also be able to see up to four distinct specs of light near Jupiter, these are its four Galilean moons. Jupiter has at least 63 moons in orbit.

In 1610, Galileo named the four main moons Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. How many you can see will depend on their position orbiting Jupiter. Even if you have a telescope, it can be helpful to use binoculars to spot Jupiter in the sky before moving on to the telescope for a more detailed observation. 2 Take a closer look with a telescope. Once you have spotted Jupiter, you can begin a more detailed observation of the planet’s surface through your telescope and identify some of its key features. Jupiter is famous for its darker cloud belts and lighter zones which are appear laterally across the planet’s surface. Try to identify the central light area known as the equatorial zone and the darker equatorial belts north and south of it. [7] When searching for the belts, keep trying. It takes time to learn how to spot the belts through a telescope. It's a good idea to try this with someone who is already familiar with spotting them. 3 Find the Great Red Spot. One of Jupiter’s most fascinating features is its Great Red Spot. This giant oval storm, larger than Earth, has been observed on Jupiter for more than 300 hundred years.

You can locate it at the outer edge of the south equatorial belt. The spot shows clearly how fast surface of the planet is changing; within the space of only an hour, you should be able to see the spot clearly move across the planet. The intensity of the Great Red Spot varies, and it can’t always be seen. It isn’t really that red, but more of orange or a pale pink colour. Part 4 Documenting your Observations 1 Try to sketch what you see. Once you have a good view of Jupiter you can document your astronomical observations by drawing Jupiter and recording its appearance. This is essentially a less high-tech version of what astronomy is all about, observing, documenting and analysing what you see in the sky. Jupiter is ever-changing so try to sketch it in around twenty minutes. You’ll be following in a great tradition of astronomical drawing. [8] 2 Do some Jupiter Photography. If you prefer a more technologically advanced method of recording your observations you could try photographing Jupiter. Much like telescopes, the camera you use can be very powerful or more basic and still get results. Some star-gazers use charged coupled device cameras or even cheap and lightweight webcams for photographing planets with telescopes.

[9] If you want to try using a DSLR camera, remember longer exposures will capture the moons more clearly but will wash out the dark and light bands across the planet surface. [10] 3 Make a Jupiter Movie. One great way to track the constant change on the surface of Jupiter and the position of its moons is to film it. You can do this in much the same way as you would photograph it. Use your notes to compare different observations to keep track of changes on the surface of the planet and to find things of interest. The clouds are turbulent and the planet's appearance can change dramatically in just a few days. Community Q&A Why can't I see Jupiter at night? wikiHow Contributor Jupiter can be seen by the naked eye only on cloudless nights, away from light pollution. It can be sometimes mistaken for a star. All About Planet Jupiter for Kids – Giant Red Spot « What does this planet look like? Jupiter, the fifth planet from the sun, is the largest planet in the solar system. It is the first of the “gas giants” and has no surface, though it may have a rocky core.

Although it is only 1/1000th as massive as the sun, it is more than double as massive as all of the other planets in the solar system combined. Jupiter’s atmosphere is separated into different bands and gives the planet the appearance of having whitish and reddish layers with various spots, swirls and bubbles. Jupiter’s most notable feature, other than its size, is the great red spot, a football shaped area of intense storms. Three Earths could fit inside the great red spot. The spot, which is a high pressure, stable storm with winds that gust over 400 miles per hour, is said to be somewhat similar to a hurricane. Recent studies have shown that the spot has actually shrunk and that the storm may be weakening. Scientists still don’t have an explanation for why the spot looks red. In addition, Jupiter also has a faint set of rings (probably made of dust) that wrap around the planet horizontally. How big is this planet? Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It is nearly 318 times as massive as Earth, has the surface area of 122 Earths, and has 1,321 times the volume of Earth.

How long does it take to orbit the sun? What is its gravity like? Gravitational force on Jupiter is 254% the gravitational force on Earth. A 100 pound Earthling would weigh about 254 pounds on Jupiter. How far is it from the sun? From the Earth? Jupiter is located an average of 466,000,000 miles from the sun. At its closest point, Earth and Jupiter are more than 390,000,000 miles apart. At their farthest, the two planets are more than 576,000,000 miles apart. What is its atmosphere like? The atmosphere of Jupiter is about 86 percent hydrogen and 14 percent helium. Methane, water vapor and ammonia exist in trace amounts. The interior of Jupiter is denser, with about 71 percent hydrogen, 24 percent helium and five percent other elements. Occasionally, flashes of lightning are detected in the atmosphere of Jupiter. These electrical discharges are said to be at least 1,000 times as powerful as the typical lightning strike on Earth. What’s the temperature like?

The average temperature in the cloud tops of planet Jupiter is -234 F, but if you were to descend from the cloud tops, closer to the interior of the planet (where the atmospheric pressure becomes about ten times what it is on Earth) the temperatures would actually be around 55 degrees F. If you were to descend farther, the temperatures would become incredibly hot. How many moons does it have? Jupiter has at least 63 moons, more than any other planet. The four Galilean moons of Jupiter are the most massive. These moons were discovered by Galileo himself in 1610 and were the first moons discovered of any planet other than Earth’s. *Jupiter is the third brightest object in the sky after Venus and the Moon. *Recently, an amateur astronomer in Australia discovered an Earth-sized dent toward the southern pole of Jupiter. According to NASA, the dent was likely caused by a stray comet or chunk of ice. Jupiter's Atmosphere: Composition & the Great Red Spot Close-up of Jupiter's Great Red Spot as seen by a Voyager spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech The atmosphere of Jupiter essentially makes up the entire planet. The gas giant has no firm surface to touch down on.

Instead, it is composed almost entirely of hydrogen and helium, with a few traces of other gases comprising a tiny percentage of its air. Atmospheric makeup Jupiter is made up predominantly of hydrogen . The simple, basic gas, a prime ingredient on the sun, accounts for 90 percent of the atmosphere. Nearly 10 percent is composed of helium. A very small fraction of the atmosphere is made up of compounds such as ammonia, sulfur, methane, and water vapor. Traveling from the outermost edges of Jupiter toward its center, pressure and temperature goes up. These increases cause the gases to separate into layers. Deep down, the hydrogen changes from a gas to a liquid. It can even become metallic. Jupiter boasts an enormous supply of hydrogen and helium that make it the most massive planet in the solar system. Transit of Io across Jupiter. South is up in this view. Mosaic composite photograph. Cassini, January 1, 2001. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Michael Benson/Kinetikon Pictures. © All rights reserved. Layers of the atmosphere Scientists use changes in the temperature and pressure of the atmosphere to determine the various atmospheric layers.

The surface of the planet, or the bottom of the atmosphere, is the point where scientists have calculated that the atmospheric pressure is equal one bar, the same as found at the surface of Earth. The layer resting on the "surface" of the gas giant is known as the troposphere, and extends to approximately 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface. The troposphere contains ammonia, ammonium hydrosulfide, and water, which form the distinctive red and white bands seen from Earth. The colder white bands are known as zones, while the darker red ones are belts. Gases within the zones rise, while within the belts they fall. Winds generally keep the two regions separate, but sometimes the icy white clouds will overlay the red bands, causing them to disappear for a period of time. Scientists have only observed the southern band periodically vanishing; the northern band remains perversely stable. The troposphere also contains dense clouds of water that influence the atmospheric dynamics. As you move higher in the troposphere, the temperature drops, ranging from minus 260 Fahrenheit (minus 160 Celsius) to minus 150 F (minus 100 C).

The next layer, the stratosphere, extends to almost 200 miles (320 km) above the surface, containing hazes of hydrocarbons. Here, temperatures start at minus 260 F and rise to approximately minus 150 F (minus 100 C), and increase the higher one rises. The stratosphere, like the troposphere, is warmed by the sun and the planet's interior. The temperature increases the higher one travels. The stratosphere ends where the pressure is one thousandth times that found at the surface of Earth. The thermosphere lies on top of the stratosphere. Temperatures rise to approximately 1,340 F (725 C) at heights of over 600 miles (1,000 km). The aurora around the poles occurs within the thermosphere. The thermosphere can also emit a weak light known as airglow that keeps the night sky from ever being completely dark. The thermosphere is heated by particles from the magnetosphere, as well as by the sun, and has no defined top. The outermost layer of Jupiter's atmosphere is the exosphere, where gas particles can escape into space.

With no clear boundary, the exosphere bleeds into interstellar space. The Great Red Spot In addition to the red and white bands that make Jupiter visually stunning, the planet also boasts a prominent feature known as the Great Red Spot . First identified in the 1600s, the spot is actually a violent storm located just south of the planet's equator. The violent hurricane can be seen from telescopes on Earth. The violent cyclone takes about six Earth-days to completely rotate, and is large enough to contain at least two Earths within it. Recent studies have indicated that the gigantic storm may be shrinking. Colder than the bands around it, the Great Red Spot must lie higher in the atmosphere. The source of its reddish color has not yet been established, but it varies throughout the region. Powering the magnetic field A third of the way into the planet, the hydrogen in the atmosphere becomes metallic, allowing it to conduct electricity. This helps to drive Jupiter's powerful magnetic field. The planet rotates rapidly — once every 9.9 hours — and the rapid spinning causes electrical currents in the metallic hydrogen to generate electricity that powers the planet's magnetic field.

Jupiter's magnetic field is almost 20,000 times as powerful as Earth. The electromagnetic storms they generate can be heard by amateur radio operators on Earth, beamed toward us by the plasmas and magnetic field lines. At times, Jupiter can produce more powerful radio signals than the sun. Editor's Recommendations

Question: Where would you find the “Great Red Spot”?
Answer: Jupiter